The Walking Dead: Eye for an Eye
by White wolf of death
Summary: What if Clementine was taken by the raiders that night instead of Louis or Violet? What would happen and who will be there for her?
1. Disobedience

(Clementines Pov)

I know I'm in a cell of some sorts. It's dark too, but I think I can hear some water outside the window, so we have to be near a lake or something with water running by. I heard some footsteps and I got up slowly and looked at the cell door and saw another room across from me. Lilly then came by and stood right in front of my door and I glared at her and she looked at me.

"It'd be wise of you to step back before I slam the door on your face." She said and I slowly backed up and saw A woman with ginger colored hair pointing a crossbow at my face and I backed up a bit more and looked at Lilly as she opened the door pointing her gun at me at gut level. I glared at her a bit as she walks in a bit, Minnie still having her crossbow pointed at me as well.

"This all could have been avoided if you just listened to me and convinced the kids to come with us, you know that right?" She asked as she came up to me.

"I told you I wasn't Marlon, I don't give kids to raiders." I said and she smirks at me.

"We're not raiders more like saviors, we give people homes and hope, food in their stomach, clothes on their back, all we ask is they defend their new home, just like any other community would do, you should know first hand Clementine." She said and I looked at her.

"Communities like yours break Lilly, I know that more than anyone." I said.

"Minnie has anything gone wrong in our community?" Lilly asked the girl and I looked at her.

"No ma'am, people are happy." The girl said and I looked at Lilly.

"See."

"That doesn't define what will happen in the future, I should know, your first group fell, you ran off in our RV when Lee was trying to convince the group that you were ok, why leave that one hu?" I asked and she glares at me.

"They would have thrown me to the side of the road if Kenny had his way, that bastard was after me the moment he wanted to go and yet he fucking stayed." She said and Minnie kept her crossbow on me as I moved a bit.

"That's was on him just like you leaving was on you, that was your choice and we had to respect that, yet you can't respect ours and leave us the fuck alone, that's a fucked up move." I said and Lilly moved to the side and punched me in the gut, I gasped for breath and held my stomach.

"You're just a kid you know nothing." She says as she backed up and left the cell and I saw Minnie glaring at me.

"You got so many people at that school killed." She said.

"No... that wasn't me." I shook my head.

"LIAR!" She yelled.

"Whatever... Bitches like you won't listen, to fucking brainwashed to think for yourself, blame whoever you can so your people look good, trust me I know people like you, I've met people like you and they don't live long." I said and I felt something connect to my head and I held it and felt wetness.

"I'll live longer than you'll I'll make sure of that." She said and then left the room and I got up and sat on the bed.

"Clem?" I heard and perked up and went to the door and saw Aasim in the cell next to the one across from the one in front of me.

"Aasim are you ok?" I asked.

"Yea I'm fine, Omar is too."

"Is that all the people that they got?" I asked, hoping it was no matter how bad that sounds.

"Yes, no ones in the other cells that I know of." He said and I nodded.

"Ok so they didn't get AJ or the others, that's….. that's good at least." I said.

"As bad as it sounds I'm glad they only got us." Aasim said and I nodded a bit.

"Did they uh… hurt you guys or say anything, where we are?" I asked.

"They didn't hurt us, they patched Omar's leg and uh… I we're on a boat, so at the river by the school."

"Ok so we haven't left or we aren't at the delta…… ok uh…. We, we gotta get out of here um…." I tried to think and looked around.

"Clem, calm down a bit ok you don't need to have a panic attack, we'll get to AJ soon." Omar said and I nodded.

"The other will try and get us back." Aasim said and I nodded as I tried to think of a plan. It was hours later that Lilly decided to come back and she opened my cell as Minnie pointed her crossbow at me again. I glared at both of them.

"Come with me Clementine." Lilly said and I look at her funny and Minnie came in and grabbed me with one hand and shoved me then pointed her crossbow at the back of my head and I glared at Lilly.

"Shooting me won't help you, you know that right?" I said and she looked at me and just walked and Minnie shoved me so I would follow. We headed up the deck and I saw the outside and we were on a boat that's for sure, and I see the woods so we haven't moved. That's a good thing at least. We finally got into a room with a desk and two chairs, Lilly sat at the chair behind the desk. And I was forced into the chair in front of the desk as another raider held my hands down and I had my hands tied to the chair. To say I wasn't scared would be a major lie right now.

"This is nice." I commented on.

"I suggest you be quiet, it'll do you some good." She said and the other including Minnie had left the room and I glared at her.

"Tying a kid to a chair, you must really be afraid of me, or really want to hurt me." I said and looked at her.

"A kid who doesn't know how to listen." She said and gets up from her chair and then hits me in the face and I groaned a bit.

"Oooh that really hurt, you know I know a man who did the same thing, beat a man twice his size had him tied up too." I said and she hit me once more.

"Fuck, must have pissed you off." Another hit and I spat some blood.

"You wouldn't be in this situation had you just compromised with us." She said and I chuckled.

"Oh right, let kids fight for you while you sit back and relax in the comfort of your walls, must be real nice." I said and she got to my eye level.

"You know nothing of what we do."

"It's the same in every group, let the kids do the hard work it happened to me, I had to do things a kid should never do."

"Bullshit."

"Carver….. told me I'm more of a leader than a follower…. Crazy piece of shit was right about one thing." I chuckled and she hit me again.

"You don't know our community it's different."

"That's what they all say." I mumbled as she sat on her desk and I looked at her.

"You're just a kid who thinks they know everything, all kids do that but in this world, the things you don't know." She said and I laughed.

"Lilly I've been on my own for years after you left, I've walked in herds of zombies before, I had to kill many people and do things that would make you think twice, things that would make those boys you got locked up, sick to their stomach." I said as I spat on the ground.

"You think I'm acting like I know everything, no bitch I do know everything, all communities are the same, they all break unless you work with them and do what they fucking want." I said and she looked at me more.

"What did you do than?" She asked.

"Many things."

"Tell me."

"Let my friends go than."

"That won't happen."

"Then I won't be telling you anything." I said and she got back up and hit me in the face over and over again. I blacked out after a while.


	2. What to Do?

(Violet's Pov)

I looked at the gate of the school for a long while now. I looked around all last night for Clementine just to make sure she was ok but god damn it they fucking took her.

"God fucking damn it." I said and looked over to Willy who was holding Mitch's hands and Ruby had covered his face and I looked over to see AJ also staring at the gate and I went over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder luckily he didn't hit or bite me like he did Marlon and Ruby, he's been doing better at not hitting people, though I wouldn't blame him.

"They took Clem." He said. I could hear the sadness in his voice and god I wanted to cry too, just hours ago we kissed, she admitted to liking me and I told her I liked her back too.

"I know little guy….. but we're gonna get her back." I told him.

"She's strong, I know she is." He said and I nodded a bit and we looked at the gate a bit more.

"God I hope she's ok." I said and he nodded as we went to go help Ruby with the grave. It took less time than Marlon and Brody's graves at least, and we finally put Mitch to rest. I looked over to Willy who was still crying and I just stood near him.

"Even though Mitch was an asshole he always took care of me." He said and I nodded.

"He had his ups and downs." I said and I looked at AJ.

"You ok?" I asked.

"I still don't understand this."

"Understand what?" Ruby asked him as we all looked at him.

"Not to be mean but, when me and Clem saw people die we didn't bury them, she'd always say there wasn't enough time even if were safe." He said and I looked at him.

"Well…. Maybe Clementine just wanted to keep moving, from what I was told y'all didn't really have a stable place to stay like we did." Ruby said.

"Even when we did we didn't bury people." He said.

"There's a reason for everything bud, you can ask Clem when we get her back." Louis said and I looked at him.

"We got Abel tied up in the basement what do we do?" Tenn asked and I sighed.

"Look this is gonna sound really bad but we know he isn't just going to cooperate in a snap…. Maybe threaten him or something, Clem already did a number on him so." I tried to say and rubbed my neck.

"I can help." AJ said and I looked at him. "It's best that you don't." I told him.

"But he knows where Clementine is."

"I know little guy but, Clementine might not want you to see all that, you're still little." Louis said and I nodded.

"Ok…. But take this." AJ said and handed me his gun. I froze up a bit and looked at him.

"I um… saw Clem use a gun once to get answers from someone when I was little it scared him so." He tried to say. I really couldn't imagine all that he had seen in just a short time in his life. I would say I couldn't imagine Clementine doing all this either but she's a bad ass.

"Ok, we'll only use it if we have to." I said and put it away and looked at AJ.

"Um… Tenn, can you go draw a bit with AJ?" I asked and he nodded and I looked at Louis.

"You come with me, just in case he tries something."

"Alright, he shouldn't be able to though, those knots are pretty good." He said and I nodded.

"Let's just play it safe Louis…. Please." I said as we walked to the basement.

"I am being safe, hence why we tied him up." He said and I nodded as we got to the stairs and we walked down. I saw Rosie looking at Abel as he slept and it just pissed me off. So I walked up to him and grabbed the back of his head and slammed it onto the table to wake him up.

"Vi." I heard Louis said but I didn't care.

"No he's not going to sleep after all the shit he put us through, I don't care." I said and glared at Abel as he shook his head to wake up.

"Fucking hell, what a way to wake up." He said and spat on the ground.

"Hmm, last time I was tied up it was with a girl I'd been dating, though I wasn't her prisoner if you know what I mean." He said and I slammed his head on the desk again.

"You can keep your mouth shut until we ask some questions, if you don't I can just keep slamming your head into this desk till I break your damn nose." I said and looked at Louis who looked a bit uneasy. It pissed me off honestly but I could deal with this later.

"You haven't done this before hu? Lilly and them will be back so you best give me the five-star treatment."

"Or what she's gonna slaughter more of us, kidnap us from our home." I stated and glared at him.

"We need people to fight, our home is a good home."

"So the most logical explanation for your god damn kidnapping and killing is because you need teenagers to fight in your god damn stupid war which we want no part of." I stated and he looked at me and laughed.

"You have no idea what's going on, we're at war with others." He said.

"But not us, no one bothered us but your fucking group." I said and slammed his head to the desk again and backed off a bit as he yelled.

"Where are the others?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Like I'd tell you."

"I can do this all day buddy, Lilly ain't coming back for you." I said and I felt Louis move to the side a bit.

"Oh she'll be back, and I'll make sure she has her way with you, just like that other girl Clementine." He said and I felt Louis move up to him and he punched Abel in the face.

"You threaten Violet or Clem's life I won't stand for that now tell us where the hell You're keeping them or so help me god." He said and Abel started to cough a lot and blood started pouring out his mouth as Louis backed off and I felt a bit sick at the sight.

"Oh god… That damn girl pushing me off the roof, something inside me must have burst." Abel said and I watched him.

"Maybe we can." Louis tried to say.

"No, he's not getting any medicine no nothing….. maybe we should let him turn." I said.

"NO! Don't." He cried and I looked at him.

Maybe we can get something out of this.

"Why should we listen to you? You just threatened my life and Clementines life, you brought your group here, killed one of our friends and took three of them away, tell me why the hell we should listen to someone like you?" I asked as he looked at me a bit scared.

"I don't want to turn."

"Neither does anyone at this god damn school you're not special." I said.

"I'll tell you where….. where we have your friends, just don't let me turn…. Don't let my body do this." He cried and I looked at Louis who nods.

"Fine we won't let you turn IF we're satisfied with your answer." I said and he looked at me.

"We, we have a boat by the river huge one, your friends would be there, on the second deck." He said and coughed and I looked at him.

"He doesn't seem to be lying." Louis said and I looked at him and nodded as I grabbed the gun.

"No… I wanna keep my face…. Please." He said and I nodded as I grabbed Clem's knife I had found in my office.

"You should head out Louis." I said and heard footsteps walking away from me and I looked at Abel as I took his head and put the knife through it. Once that was done I left the basement with Rosie and saw Louis.

"So what's the plan?" I heard and looked at everyone.

"Abel said that they're being held on a boat over by the river, so we're gonna scout the area out and see what we could do from there." I said and we all agreed to head out in about two hours, after we fixed up the gate a bit.

"Could I maybe come and help?" Willy asked and I nodded.

"Yea you can, Ruby you think you'll be good here with Tenn?" I asked and she nodded. "Yea we'll be fine, I'll check over the supplies and get everything set up." She said and I nodded as I grabbed my meat cleaver and I saw Louis grab Chairels.

"Here you go." I said as I handed AJ his gun back.

"You know to use it only when you need to right?" I asked and he nodded as he put it in his back pocket and I nodded as we all head out to the river. It was a good distance about an hours walk from our school, I remember we use to come here to swim sometimes when the world wasn't crawling with dead people.

"You know Clementine sometimes hates the water." AJ said and I looked at him.

"Is that so?" I asked and he nodded.

"I know I shouldn't talk about her past but…. I don't know." He said and I nodded understanding.

"Yea it's good to talk things out of random sometimes, not all the time but sometimes." Louis said and we walked some more.

"How you holding Willy?" I asked.

"Fine I suppose."

"Wanna talk things out while you got the chance?" Louis asked.

"Mitch is dead cause of Tenn." He said and I looked at him.

"Will."

"But it's true, he didn't stick to the plan and now Mitch is gone because of him." Willy said and AJ looked a bit upset.

"Well what would you do if someone mentions a person you miss?" AJ asked him. I kept quiet just to see how things would go.

"What do you mean?" Willy asked.

"Well, Tenn hadn't seen his sister in a year right? What would you do if you were told that Mitch was dead but then was told he was alive?" AJ asked.

"I still wouldn't have broken the plan apart just to know."

"Are you sure though?" AJ asked.

"I'm sure."

"People always act different in different situations" AJ said and I looked at him some more.

"How would you know?" Willy asked, he was sounding a bit pissed and I was about to step in.

"Well, I remember bits and pieces of when I was younger, but Clementine acts all big and tuff, but sometimes she's not, when she's near me she acts like my mom, well not my real mom but….. and she's fun and happy around me, but when walkers or bad people come by she puts on a mask, and acts tuff but I know she's scared." AJ explained. I'm quite surprised though especially for a kid his age he has the mindset of an adult sort of.

"But that's different."

"Ok best thing would be is to talk to Clementine about this but she pulled the same thing Tenn had done when she was younger." AJ said and just walked more, he was a bit agitated which I understand so I walked right next to him.

"Hey AJ if you feel agitated just breath a bit." I said.

"Like Clem taught me if I get mad?" He asked.

"Yep, just breath and think, I know what you're trying to do, and that's a good thing, trying to explain certain situations to people, but we never had to really do things like this… like you and Clem, so it's gonna be a bit harder for Willy to understand what you mean." I tried my best to explain, honestly I think I didn't make any sense to him.

"We can teach you though." He said.

"Heh I don't think that's gonna be hard especially the situation we're in now." I said and he looked up at me.

"When we were kicked out, I was really mad."

"I know, I was mad too." I said as we walked more, just me and him.

"But Clem didn't show it, but I think she was more tired than mad." He said and I nodded.

"Well, you guys didn't have a stable place to stay like we did."

"We would find some good place to stay but Clem always said to keep moving… but I think she feels at home at the school, and I want her to be happy." He said.

"For a kid your age you sound wiser than any adult I've known." I said and he smiled.

"Clem said it's good to use your age as an advantage though." He said and I chuckled.

"Oh? And how's that?" I asked, wanting to know what he did.

"Well I haven't had to use it but Clementine has….. I think she should tell you though." He said and I nodded. We got close to the river and we got down low and began scouting the area a bit.

"I see some supplies over there." Willy pointed out and I nodded.

"We should take it." He said and I looked at him then back at the supplies.

"We'll keep that in mind." I said and we looked some more and I saw Clementine being taken to a section of a boat.

"Fuck Clem." I mumbled as I watched her.

"Where are they taking her?" Louis asked.

"Don't know, but at least we know Abel wasn't lying." I said as we watched the boat more.

"They have guards up front so how are we gonna get up there without getting shot." I said.

"Maybe we could use walkers." AJ offered and I looked at him.

"Ok and how would we do that?" Louis asked.

"We could get James to help, and if he doesn't I know how to walk in a herd without getting bit." He said and we looked at him.

"We'll how would we not get bit?" Louis asked.

"We cover our scents."

"How?" Louis asked.

"It's gross." AJ said and I looked at him a bit.

"We'd have to rub walker guts on us." He said.

"That's sick and that can't work." Willy said.

"It does me, and Clem did it so many times, Lee found out before he died." AJ said and I nod.

"I believe him." I said.

"No you can't just." Louis tried to say.

"Louis we never went past those walls if AJ says Clem and him did it then it has to work." I said and he looked at me.

"Fine whatever." He said.

"What is your problem man?" I asked.

"Nothing, look let's just go ok." He said and we began to walk and I saw some movement and so did Louis so we all hid.

"Raider?" Willy asked and we nodded. I slowly walked up and saw that it was Minnie.

"Minerva?" I asked and she turned to me quickly and looked at us.

"Holy shit you're ok." She said and hugged me. It felt awkward a bit.

"You're alive?" I asked and she nodded.

"Of course what do you think happened."

"Marlon said you and Sophie died…. Where is Sophie?" Louis asked.

"She… she died a hero protecting the delta." She said.

"Fuck." I mumbled.

"How's Tenn? And everyone else?" She asked and I rubbed my neck a bit.

"Tenns ok, Marlon and Brody are… dead." I said and she looked a bit mad.

"Mitch died last night." Willy said and I nodded.

"It was Clementine wasn't it?" She asked.

"What?"

"She's the reason they're dead, she killed Marlon didn't she." She stayed more than asked.

"She didn't." I said.

"Don't cover for her, she's been a huge issue with Lilly and us since she's gotten here." She said and I clenched my first.

"I swear to God Minnie if anything happens to Clementine I'm going after you first." I said and she looked at me shocked.

"Why should you care she killed our friends."

"Marlon was waving a gun around at us and at Tennessee, saying that trading you guys was protecting us, Marlon deserved it with all the shit he did, and Marlon killed Brody Clem didn't do anything to them other than when Brody was a walker." I said pissed.

"Ok then who gunned Marlon down then hu?" She asked.

"I did." AJ said and I looked at him and rubbed my head.

"A kid? Seriously why the hell is a kid doing with a gun?"

"It's the fucking apocalypse Minnie what the fuck did you expect? Plus you're making kids fight in a war that we want no part of so what he did shouldn't be questioned by you." I said.

"Look Violet the best thing to do is just get everyone here, if not more people will die, the delta is a great place to be, we have food, water, clothes, electricity, we can make a home, it's a great home." She said to us.

"But we like our home." Willy said.

"This is better…. Look we leave in a few days and we won't be back for two weeks, just get everyone ready to leave, no fighting nothing just… give it a thought is all." She said and then left to the boat and I sighed.

"We should head back." Louis said and I nodded.

"Yea… we can make a plan and get ready for whatever the hell were gonna do." I said and we began walking back to the school.


	3. Why?

(Clementines Pov)

It's been hours since Lilly had taken me back to my cell where she had Minnie tie me to my bed after the beating, I received they probably think I'd turn or something. I heard some footsteps coming from down the hall and my gate being opened as I looked up and glared at Minnie.

"Seems you're very popular with Lilly." She said as she got in my face and I spat at her. After she wiped her face she punched me and my head turned to the left. I looked back at her and just glared.

"Because of you people are dead, you don't deserve to be alive anymore." She said and I chuckled.

"Wasn't me that killed them, Lilly killed Mitch when Mitch was protecting your brother." I said and she glared at me.

"And your boy shot Marlon." She said and I looked at her, my eyes had gone wide and she smirked.

"I'll make sure he gets special treatment." She said and I tried to punch her.

"Don't you lay a finger on AJ you hear me bitch, if he gets hurt I'll fucking kill you, no hesitation." I threatened her and she just smirks at me.

"Big talk for someone who's injured." She said and hit her foot against my leg and then stepped on it putting all her weight into it.

"You know, Violet said something about if you get hurt, she'd come after me… now why would that be?" She asked as she kept putting weight on my leg and I tried to hit her but the restraints stopped me from doing so.

"Cause she knows you're nothing but monsters, I've already told her about Lilly." I said and she laughed.

"You don't know everything." She said.

"I know enough that she willingly left two kids to die when she ran off in that damn RV Kenny fixed, I know enough that Lee tried to save her fucking father who was an asshole to Lee, she broke after that, I saw Larry get his head smashed in with a fucking salt lick, I've seen what she started to become." I said and Minnie hit me with the butt of the crossbow and I felt blood in my mouth.

"She's making things better for people, we have everything we need to survive." She said and I wanted to laugh so badly.

"Then why kidnap kids hu? Why make Tenn fight, you know he doesn't want to hurt people, I know he doesn't he still plays with toys for fuck sake and you're gonna make him carry around a gun and be a little solider." I said and she stepped off of me. I looked at her.

"He's got to grow up some time, I did."

"You were a god damn teenager he's still a kid."

"How dare you try that bullshit on me, you raised your boy to kill."

"We didn't live in fucking walls like you and the others, what I taught him was for people like you, people at the ranch, the old frontier group everyone that would hurt us, you think you've been through hell, well fuck you." I said and she hit me again and I coughed a few times.

"Be lucky you're alive Clementine, cause if it were up to me, you wouldn't be here." She said and left my cell and I looked out the window a bit. The sun was going down, and I heard someone walking to us. I saw Lilly who was looking at me and came in the cell , as she did I saw something like a crowbar in her hand.

"Being disobedient hu?" She asked and I smiled a bit.

"When am I not?" I asked and she hit me in the face with the crowbar, my head was ringing and it hurt like hell as I looked up and I chuckled. It reminded me of when Kenny had hit Carver in the face with a crowbar but he kept going, Lilly stopped after one hit. Though I wouldn't put it past her to try and hit me more if she really wanted to. She'd probably let Minerva have a swing.

"Welp…. That hurt like hell, what's the point of this lesson?" I asked as I spat up a bit of blood and she set the crowbar to the wall next to her and then came up to me and untied me and stepped back.

"Come on fight." She said and I got up slowly as she pushed Minnie to me and she swung at me and I dodged it as best as I could. I looked to the crowbar and went to go get it.

"Fuck." I mumbled and Minnie charged at me and pinned me to the wall trying to choke me with her arm but I kicked her in the shin until she let go and I fell to the ground and was kicked in the face with her knee and I fell back.

"Come on Clementine get up." Lilly said but Minnie got on top of me and hit me in the face over and over till I grabbed her hand and twisted it and I kicked her then got up and moved away from her as she got up, I couldn't see out my right eye so it has to be swollen to hell.

"Keep going." Lilly said and Minnie charged at me once more and I moved away and punched her as she faltered a bit. I moved away from Minnie once more she was able to shove me a bit and I saw he hand go to her pocket and I saw her pull out a knife and tried to swipe me with it, I grabbed her hand but she was able to punch me and swipe me under my legs and as she did so I felt something sharp in my face and her eyes went wide as she backed off and I covered my face as I felt blood pour down.

"I think she's had enough, lets go Minerva." Lilly said and I looked up a bit and glared as Lilly grabbed the crowbar and walked out of the cell with Minnie who glared at me before she walked out and locked the cell on me.

"Fucking….. god damn bitch." I mumbled as I got up slowly. I looked over to see that Aasim and Omar weren't in their cell and I hit the wall a bit and sat back down as I looked at the blood on my hand as it also dripped down my face to the floor.

"Fuck." I felt my face a bit and it stung like hell and moved my hands away and groaned a bit as my head began thumping. Probably have a concussion for all I know.

"Get in there you two." I heard and got up a bit to see Aasim and Omar being put in their cell and as I saw the raider leave I grabbed the bar and looked at them.

"You guys ok?" I asked as I kept the side of my face hidden.

"Yea, um… they patched Omars leg again." Aasim said and I nodded.

"Ok." I said.

"What about you? We saw Minnie and Lilly here, why did Minnie have blood on her?" Omar asked a bit scared.

"Don't worry, just…. When you were out there did you see anything?" I asked.

"No, they have guards almost everywhere, we can't get out if we tried." Aasim said and I groaned a bit.

"It's ok, we'll find a way out." Omar said and I nodded and Looked at the cell a bit.

"I would try to unlock the door but I don't have a tool to break the weak parts of the welded spots." I said.

"Shit didn't even think about that." Aasim said.

"It's fine we can work this out." I said.

"Do you think the others will come for us?" Omar asked and I thought back to what Minnie said.

"Minnie mentioned Violet when she was in her, they may have been scouting out, I'm not sure." I said.

"Least we know they might be coming." Omar said and I nodded.

"All we can do is wait for an opportunity." I said and I sat down and closed my eye a bit.

"Clem are you sure you're ok?" Aasim asked."I uh… yea I'm fine um…. The most part, just Lilly doing what she does." I said.

"Why did Minnie have blood on her?" he asked the question once more and I sighed.

"You have to tell me how bad it is ok? Unless you know…. Just say if its bad or you know not to bad." I mumbled as I got up and showed him my face.

"Jesus fucking Christ she did that to you?" he asked.

"How bad?"

"I…. I really can't describe, fuck you have blood on the side of your head." He said and I nodded.

"Hit with a crowbar."

"They're gonna pay this is bullshit." He said.

"Keep you're voice down, if Vi and them are near by scouting then we need all of us to be fine enough to work with them, so don't do anything stupid ok?" I said and he nodded and I looked around a bit.

"Ok…. Clem please be careful for fuck sake what they're doing to you is mad." Omar said and I chuckled.

"Oh trust me I know that already…. Just get some rest the suns setting and I don't know what's gonna happen." I said and slowly sat down by the door and closed my one good eye.it was probably an hour later when we were woken up and given whatever food they were willing to spare and I glared at Minnie.

"Well have a doctor look at your eye." She said.

"Do what you want." I said and she glared at me.

"You think I wanted to fight?"

"With the way you act I'd say yes, you wanted to fight me, well you got that chance Minnie." I said and she glared at me.

"Well at least I got to fuck up your face, let me guess you're with Louis right? Can't wait to see his reaction to you." She said and laughed a bit.

"Not Louis you'll have to worry about, mostly AJ." I said and she glared at me more.

"I'll get him before he gets me." She said and left and I hit the gate.

"Fucking cunt." I mumbled as I grabbed the bars and watched her leave the cell area.

"Clem." Aasim said.

"Right sorry just…. Sorry." I said and breathed a bit.

"Attention everyone we will be heading out to the delta in two days, so we will get what we need and head out, make sure to check your ammo and report to Me so we can get you squared away back at base." We heard through the small intercoms that are placed around the boat. My head was pounding at the sound and I saw a woman in a white coat coming by.

"You're Clementine?" She asked but I didn't speak. She opened the cell door and I was thinking about shoving her but stopped. It'd only cause more trouble in the end.

"Don't talk much hu?" She asked as she looked me over and touched my face a bit.

"Damn Lilly and Minnie sure beat the hell out of you." She said as she grabbed some medicine from her bag and looked at me.

"Take these it'll help with the pain, eat some food too, and I'll get some bandages for your eye." She said and I sat down on the bed as she went through her bag then looked at me.

"Think I'll be able to see?" I asked.

"Hmm not to sure, I'll be able to check tomorrow and see, looks like she got you good though." The woman said and I nodded.

"I'll bandage you up after putting this on." She said holding a bottle of peroxide.

"Fucking hate that shit." I mumbled as she grabbed a clean cloth.

"Tell me about it, burns like hell." She said as she lightly dabbed my face and I squinted at the pain.

"Best thing to do is to just work with Lilly." She said.

"Ain't happening." I said.

"Well then we will be seeing each other a lot in the future." She said and patched up my eye it almost covered my other eye too.

"Well least you got a cool scar, scars are way better than stumps." I heard and looked up a bit as she left.

"What is it with people saying that to me?" I asked myself as I remember the time I spent with Luke before we had to leave the cabin. I began to think back all the way to when the dead wasn't walking around eating people, when I was still a child trying to have fun and just be a good kid for Sandra and wait for my parents to come home. I ate a little of the food and took the pills and slowly closed my eye as I began to drift to sleep.


	4. They aren’t Us and We aren’t Them

(Violets Pov)

"Ok Louis and Willy you two will go and inform Ruby and Tenn of what we're going to do, so we can get their opinions on how it should play out, me and AJ are gonna go look for James and see if he'll help us with this." I said to them and Louis nodded.

"Noted, just be careful." Louis said and I nodded as me and AJ walked into the woods and Louis along with Willy walked to the school.

"He'll help us." AJ said and I looked at him.

"Maybe, we can't be to sure on what he'll do." I tried to explain.

"He helped us when Abel shot me though." He said and I nodded.

"Yes he did, you have to thank him again for that too." I said and he nodded as we walked.

"So what exactly was this world like before the walkers?" He asked and I thought a bit.

"Well….. that's hard for me to explain…. What uh did Clem tell you?" I asked a bit curious as to what she's been telling him. Not that I'm saying she's bad at raising him or telling him some thing but, what her life was probably like before all this.

"Well, Clem said that when she was little, her parents took her to a …. Fair?" He asked and I smiled.

"Oh those are fun, and really loud too."

"Loud?" He asked as he walked on a log and I watched him to make sure he didn't fall.

"Well people were screaming in a good way, having fun going on these rides that make your blood pump and all that junk, you'd also play games to win prizes too." I tried to explain. He smiled a bit.

"I wanna go to one." He said and I thought for a bit.

"If I remember correctly the world basically ended during the summer time, maybe we can find the old fair here, they usually set it up during the summer."

"But we cant be loud."

"Nope can't be loud but we can play the small games." I told him and he looked so happy.

"What else did people do before the Walkers?" He asked.

"Hmm parents or older people usually had jobs, actually if this world hadn't gone to shit Louis, Ruby, Clem and I would probably have jobs by now, and worrying about school."

"But you're at a school why would you worry about it? Does something need to be fixed?" He asked.

"Well no not that, I mean studying and trying to get into college so we could get a better job… or at least that's what we're told to do." I said as he jumped off the log carefully.

"Ok like when Clem taught me to read?" He asked.

"Well yea she was teaching you, and she's still teaching you, technically people never stop learning even if we aren't in school." I said.

"Like how to survive?"

"Yea, before walkers showed up people would go camping and learn how to live in the wild, it's good to know especially if you got lost in the woods or on an island with no people." I said and we walked some more.

"Oh Clem's good at surviving." AJ said and I nodded.

"Yea She is… with how long she's been out here I shouldn't be surprised at half the things she does or has to do."

"Clem's told me stories of what happened to her before I was born."

"Oh? Did she say you could share the stories?" I asked.

"Only a few, she told me some that I shouldn't have know, but she was ranting? Talking a lot to herself." He said.

"Ok well what would clem like for me to know?" I asked trying to make a joke to which AJ did smile but I think it's because he can talk about his parental figure more.

"Well you know she's know Lilly right?" He asked and I nodded.

"Well she told me about the times that Lilly was actually nice to her, before Larry her dad died, those hair ties she has were from Lilly, oh and there was this kid named Duck." He said and I chuckled a bit.

"Dodging or quacking?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Well she said he talked a lot." He said and I smiled a bit.

"Oh, oh and she told me how she use to draw a lot too, she's an artist." He said and I smiled softly.

"She even taught me about this thing you do with a leaf and you put it under the paper and it makes the leaf." He said and I laughed.

"Leaf rubbing, I remember doing that a lot as a kid." I said and looked around a bit.

"Clem said she did it a lot too." He said and stopped walking and I looked at him.

"She's gonna be ok right? I mean I know she's tough, really tough." He said and I nodded.

"Yea she's tough."

"So that woman we saw in the woods that was Minerva?" He asked and I nodded again as we walked. I'm surprised we haven't seen a walker for a while but I'm not one to go looking for them.

"Yep, well…. It was but she's different than what I remember."

"Hm, you said she was nice before she was taken?"

"Oh yea, real nice, couldn't even hurt a walker honestly, and she also use to sing to sounded all blusey you know?" I asked.

"I wouldn't, Clem's hummed to me and I heard Louis sing something." He said.

"You remember the words?" I asked.

"Hmmm he kept saying 'oh my darling Clementine' But… Clem's not his…. Is she?" He asked confused and I chuckled a bit at his question.

"No, it's an old song way before Clementine or I was even born… it's a sad song though." I said.

"Sad? Why would he sing it than?"

"Hmm well lots of people had sad songs to sing, different reasons though." I tried to explain.

"Oh… like I could sing a song when I'm sad?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yea you could, I remember Minnie had made up a song for us when we were sad or scared… it helped us a lot." I said and closed my eyes a bit remembering her singing to us in the music room as Louis played on his piano and Marlon would joke about finding a guitar and traveling across the country.

"Could you sing it one day?" He asked.

"I uh… I suppose I mean Maybe one day." I said and rubbed his head gently.

"Um… sorry." I said as we walked more and I saw a cage like the raiders had being pulled by their horses.

"Hey look it's James." AJ said as he went over to him and he looked at us.

"Oh hello." He said quietly and I nodded.

"So you're James?" I asked just to make sure I mean I never saw the guy or heard him.

"Yes um… is something wrong?" He asked.

"We uh…" I tried to say but rubbed my neck. What the hell am I supposed to say? 'Hey we need your help taking down a boat full of raiders by the way AJ said you could use walkers.' Yea right good idea Violet.

"We need you help to get Clem and my other friends back." AJ said and hames looked at me and I nodded.

"How can I help?"

"AJ uh said you could use walkers?" I asked AJ and he nodded.

"I uh… I don't want them to get hurt."

"Well AJ said he knows a way we don't get hurt." I said and he looked at me.

"I meant the walkers." He said.

"Um…what?"

"I don't want you guys getting hurt either but I don't want the walkers to get hurt, I uh… ok I'll agree to help but you have to do one thing for me." He said.

"Depends on what that is." I said cautious and I pulled AJ back a bit.

"I just want you to walk with them." He said and pulled out a mask. It was made of walker skin.

"I uh… don't think that's a good idea."

"Trust me, it's safe just walk slow like them and keep calm." He said and handed me the mask as he walked and I looked at AJ and followed James to a barn looking building and I saw AJ run over to look at something so I followed him real quick.

"What is that?" He asked.

"Uh that's a salt lick." I explained.

"Is it good?" He asked and I shrugged, I mean I never tried it. I saw him bend down and lick it before I could stop him and he mad a disgusted face and I couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"I should have said it's mostly used for animals to lick." I said and he looked at me.

"Ooooh….. I probably shouldn't have licked it anyway." He said and I smiled a bit as we went over to James who was waiting by the barn doors.

"Like I said put the mask on, keep calm, walk slow, if you can ring the wind chime in the center of the barn." He said and I felt AJ tug on my arm so I bent down to his level.

"Stay safe?" He asked and I sighed and nodded.

"I will."

"Look for another way out." He said and I gave him a questioning look.

"Clem said to always look for another way out when in a new place." He said and I nodded.

"I'll be sure to do that little guy." I said and stood up once more and looked at the mask in my hands and I put it on.

"If I end up bit it's on you." I told him and he nodded as he slowly opened the door and I saw about twenty walkers walking around in there and I gulped as I walked in slowly. My breathing got a bit heavier as I got closer to the walkers, I mean hell I'm surrounded by a fuck ton of them. But they haven't noticed yet so that's a good thing I guess. I walked a bit more to the center and saw the wind chime but as I was about to touch it a walker got close to me and I moved my hand back and it looked at me but didn't do anything.

'Fucking hell vi what have you gotten yourself into?' I thought as I slowly reached for the wind chime again and slowly tapped it and it made some sound. I looked around a bit as the walkers just stared at it and I slowly left the barn while they were distracted and I took the mask off the instant I got out. Then I felt a little body collide with mine in a hug and I looked down to see AJ and I hugged him back.

"No bites?" He asked and I nodded.

"No bites." I said to him and he smiled and hugged me again.

"So do you think they're still monsters?" He asked and I looked at him.

"Walkers with souls? Look I'm not one to be an ass on people's beliefs but they're still monsters, doesn't matter if they don't attack you, they attacked me and my friends and killed kids at my school." I tried to explain.

"I knew you'd think like that." He said and I looked at him.

"Do they have names? Do you know their names?" I asked and he looked at me.

"What?"

"The one in the green raggedy shirt, what's his name? What about the woman in the very back wearing the metal chain bracelet do you know her name?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Clementine, Aasim and Omar, they have names they're alive and they're about to be forced into something they clearly don't want to be apart of, we're still kids, teens but still kids." I said and he looked at me.

"I may not like the idea but I'm no monster like those raiders…… I'll help." He said and I nodded.

"Thank you…. Seriously thank you." I said and he nodded.

"Meet me by the river early in the morning, I heard them announce they'll be leaving Some time tomorrow." He said and I nodded as he went to the door and opened them as me and AJ walked away. We headed back to the school and as we walked to his and Clem's room we saw Ruby with a pillow.

"Oh hey you guys." She said and I nodded."Did you get that James fellow to help us?" She asked.

"Yea, we did, what are you up to?" I asked.

"Well this might sound silly but maybe we can have a small hootnany before we go get Aasim and the others back." She said.

"Swear?" AJ asked and I smirked a bit to mess with Ruby.

"Oh yea, it's a swear." I said.

"Vi, don't lie to the boy like that and no it's just another word for party. She said and he chuckled a bit.

"What can I do?" He asked.

"You can make the decorations." Ruby offered and he ran to his room and I looked at Ruby.

"You good Vi?" She asked and I nodded.

"Yea… look I know we said we'd think about what we would do with Clem and AJ after the raiders and everything but…. I'd be nice to let them stay. I mean Clem know what she's doing and AJ." I tried to explain.

"Hey if it makes you happy, I'd like for them to stay, lord knows they deserve it." She said and I nodded as she left and I went to check on AJ. I saw him at his desk with some colors and a pencil and I watched him draw a bit and looked around the room, it had a few skulls here and there and I saw a disco broccoli character doll.

"Clem says his name is beet-nick." He said and I chuckled.

"I use to watch this when I was younger, before I got sent here that is." I said and he looked at me.

"Marlon said this was a school for um." He tried to think.

"Troubled youth." I said and he nodded.

"You guys don't look like trouble though." He said and I smiled a bit at his innocence.

"No um… I guess you can say we aren't now but before everything we were troubled…. Maybe we might tell you when we have the party." I said and he nodded and colored again and I saw a drawing that said AJ protecting Clem.

"You look up to Clementine a lot hu?" I asked.

"Yea she's like my mom…. I know she's not my real mom she's told me about her, but Clem's my mom now." He said and I sat on the bed and watched him more.

"Are you like Tenns' mom?" He asked and I turned red.

"More like an older sister, older protective sister." I said and he nodded.

"Tenn's a good friend, I think he's my first real friend."

"What about Clem?" I asked.

"She's old though." He said and I laughed.

"Not as old as me I bet." I said and then his face changed to thinking.

"Ok he's my second first real best friend." He said and I chuckled and nodded.

"Ok and I promise not to tell Clementine you called her old." I said and he smiled and showed me his new art piece and handed it to me. It showed Clementine with her signature hat, holding her knife and then Aasim and Omar we're behind her, they were all wearing capes too and I smiled.

"Looks great buddy."

"….. Violet?" He asked as I lowered the drawing.

"Yea?"

"You said something about walkers and souls?" He asked. I rubbed my neck as I placed the drawing down and looked at him.

"Yea… I didn't didn't I?"

"What's a soul?" He asked.

"It's um…. People believe that everyone has a soul, it's uh…. James thinks that the people who became walkers are still in there somewhere, that's why he doesn't want them to get hurt."

"But you don't think they do?" He asked.

"It's uh…. I want to believe that I really do but…. That doesn't mean you don't have to believe the same thing that I do, or what James said." I tried to explain and he gave me a confused look.

"Put it this way, if you want to think that walkers are still people, then you can, but if you believe that the person is no longer in there, than that is what you believe in, don't follow everyone else's lead on things like that ok?" I said and he nodded.

"My mom turned into a walker and tried to eat me, if she was still in there then why would she do that?" He asked and I had to really think on this.

"Well…. Ok, if by chance some part of your mom was in there, well she couldn't control her body… like a muscle spasm, where your body just moves on it's own even though you didn't want to move that part of your body…. You real mom would never want to hurt you." I said.

"But Clem stopped her." He said sadly and I nodded.

"Well…. Don't you think your mom would be happy that someone stopped her before she could hurt you?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yea I suppose." He said and I rubbed my neck.

"I think Clem could explain it better than I could." I said.

"No it's fine, you try and I kinda understand, plus you probably didn't have to talk about this a lot with anyone." He said and I nodded a bit.

"Yea heh…. Well let's go see what the others are doing." I said and we both got up and he grabbed his drawing and we left the room and headed down to the music room with the others.


	5. Hootenanny and the Showdown

(Violets Pov)

As AJ and I walked to the music room I could hear Louis playing a bit on his piano and I opened the door for AJ to see Ruby, Louis, and Tenn setting up for the small party we were going to have.

"Hey you two, hope you don't mind if I grabbed Clem's little heater." Ruby said to AJ and he nodded.

"I don't mind as long as we put it back for her." He said and Ruby nodded to him and he looked around a bit.

"Wanna help with the party?" Ruby asked him and he nodded. I watched him a bit as ruby showed him the colorful jars.

"What color should we use than?" She asked and she thought a bit.

"Purple." He said as he pointed to the jar and ruby nodded.

"Consider it done." She said and I watched as AJ looked at the old record player.

"What's this?" He asked.

"That's a record player, you take this giant disk and place it here." Louis said as he grabbed the record and placed it on the player.

"Then you crank this part here and place the needle down and it starts playing music." Tenn also explained.

"It's basically Louis in a box." I joked and Louis laughed a bit. It's good to see him smile.

"So this is music?" AJ asked and I nodded.

"So it's sad?" He asked.

"No, there's different forms of music, some are happy, some have no words, others aren't meant for kids to hear and many more." Ruby explained.

"But Violet said there's sad music."

"What Louis was playing to you and Clem was a sad song."

"I wouldn't say sad more… well ok it is a sad song now that I think about it." He said and rubbed the back of his neck.

"So wait… what happened to Clementine in the song?" AJ asked and I looked at him.

"Hmm this won't happen to your Clementine remember that ok." I said and he nodded.

"The girl in the song drowns in a river." Louis said. AJ stayed silent for a bit and then messed with his fingers like he did before we took them out the safe zone.

"Clem's almost drowned though." He said and I rubbed my neck.

"Yea But Clementines a bad ass, she's not gonna let some silly river harm her." Louis said and I nodded then ruby tapped my shoulder and I looked at her.

"Willy said he wanted to talk to you real quick, something important." She said and I nodded and looked at AJ.

"Hey bud I'll be right back, why don't you help Ruby finish setting up the decorations." I said and he nodded.

"Hey ruby I have a drawing for the party." He said as he went up to her and showed her his art. I smiled a bit and went to go find Willy who was in Mitch's old room.

"Wanted to see me?" I asked and he nodded as he held a book.

"I know how we can take down the raiders, and make sure they don't hurt anyone anymore." He said as he handed me the book and pointed to something like the heater down in the basement.

"If we can get enough explosives we can blast the raiders boat." He said.

"You want to blow up the boat?" I asked and he nodded.

"Makes sense though right? They can't leave and then they can't hurt us again." He said.

"It does sound like a good plan but what about us? If the bomb goes off while we're on we could get hurt too." I said and he nodded.

"We just have to time it right, they won't leave immediately if we get in there and cause trouble for them, or at least I wouldn't do that." He said and I nodded.

"Ok, if it'll help us then we will blow those raiders away, show them we won't take shit from them."

"Hell yea." He said and I nodded as I was about to leave.

"Hey Vi…. I'm sorry about what I said about Tenn." He said.

"I know you are, but you should apologize to him." I said and he nodded and I went back down and heard some country music playing. I opened the door and saw AJ dancing a bit and I leaned on the side with my arms crossed as I watched him and he looked at me.

"Come dance Vi." He said and I chuckled.

"Only if the others join so I don't look to dumb." I said and he looked at everyone else. Of course Louis automatically joins and starts doing the sprinkler dance and we all laugh a bit.

"Come on Vi, square dance with me." Ruby said and I was a bit nervous but I watched Ruby's steps and I followed her then AJ joined in and we all laugh a bit.

"Hey Tenn what are you doing?" AJ asked and I watched Tenn doing the robot and I stopped dancing. I don't dance a lot, not these types of dances.

"Louis called this the Robot." He said and I saw AJ mimicking Tenns moves and I smiled a bit.

"Yea go AJ and Tenn." Louis cheers and I watch Ruby head to the other side of the room. I then saw Willy come in with what looked like it could be the bomb. He went over to Tenn and AJ and talked with them a bit and I saw ruby come down the ladder with a box.

"We should name it…. Ruby's revenge." I heard and looked to AJ and them.

"Well if a bomb is being named after me I have no objection." She said and she set the box down.

"What's all that?" AJ asked as he came over and I saw that it was a bunch of files.

"Well I thought you should know what got us sent here, if no one minds that is, anyone can back out." Ruby said and I sat down between Tenn and AJ.

"I'm fine with it." I said. Why lie to the kid, he should know what we had done to get sent here.

"I suppose he can know my story." Louis said. "Alright I'll start off with someone you know." She said and grabbed a file.

"All you have to do is guess who it is." She explained and AJ nodded a bit.

"While otherwise a remarkable student "blank" continues to be plagued with fits of anger uncontrollable cursing and repeated physical altercations with the senior faculty." She read off. I knew who exactly it was and I looked down at AJ.

"….. was that Mitch?" He asked.

"No, wasn't him." I said.

"That's Ruby's file." Willy said and we chuckled a bit.

"But you're so nice and you hate swearing." He said and I chuckled a bit.

"Yea you wouldn't think Ruby here would swear but honestly she was a nightmare when she first came here." I said.

"She once chased the home EC teacher with a barbecue fork this big." Tenn said as he used his hands for size comparison and Ruby laughed.

"But don't worry that was a long time ago." She said with a wink and I smiled.

"Wanna know why I got sent here?" Willy asked.

"No he does-." But before I could stop him he bursted out.

"Chronic masturbation." He said and I looked at him.

"Trust me no one wanted to hear that." I said and he looked a bit embarrassed.

"What's that?" AJ asked.

"Nope don't tell him a thing." I said as I pointed to Louis and Willy. I saw Tenn lean to him and whispered something and AJ's face looked so confused.

"Uh ok, how about I tell you how I got sent here." I offered.

"You sure?" He asked and I nodded.

"You might hate me afterwards though." I said.

"I wouldn't." He said and I nodded as I held my knees to my chest a bit.

"I spent a lot of time at my grandma's house growing up, what with my dad being a drunk and my mom working three jobs. But after my grandpa died, grandma just kinda… shut down. Spent all day and night rocking in her chair in the den." I said and I looked down at the floor a bit remember all this.

"I'd sit there at her feet as we both watched TV, mostly cartoons since she never seemed to care. Sometimes I could hear her crying, but I didn't look back. I'd just feel weird and turn up the volume, you know?" I asked no one in particular and looked at them.

"Anyway, one day she left the den and came back with another chair and a .22 rifle. Set the rifle butt on the top of that chair, holding the barrel back to her chest. So you know she had trouble reaching the trigger this way, but she must have known it would happen… because she took out this really tacky, wooden backscratcher — the real long kind with the one end shaped like a hand — and used that to push the trigger in." I said and looked at AJ's reaction.

"So… yea. Bang, right? Her body folded up and just kept… rocking. My mom comes to get me five hours later, I hadn't moved. She asked why I hadn't called the police or an ambulance or anything. I just shrugged and told her it wasn't like grandma's was going anywhere… and besides, I just wanted to finish my cartoons." I said and looked at all of them again.

"She shipped me off to Ericson the next day. I was eleven." I said and I felt AJ grab my hand a bit and I looked at him.

"… The adults shouldn't have left you guys." He said and I rubbed his back.

"I could tell you a story about me and Clem." He said and I looked at him.

"Is it a story Clem would be fine with?" I asked and he nodded.

"….. maybe?" He asked and I looked at him a bit.

"I mean she didn't say I couldn't tell." He said and I looked at him a bit.

"Ok." I said and he nodded.

"This was when she was…. Thirteen, she said she was thirteen and she was with this group called the New fron… frontier?." He said and nodded at that and looked at us.

"She said I was two at the time and that I was very sick, that I needed medicine but they wouldn't give me any. So one night Clem took me to the medical tent they had and stole their medicine. The doctor there kept telling her that it wouldn't work and I'd die anyway…. And people listens to him…. Apparently he did drugs?" He asked and I was shocked.

"But she gave it to me and they kicked her out…. She tried to fight for me but they took me from her…. Then one of them told her to just forget about me and to "find another light." In this world…. But she never gave up…. She saved me at the ranch and…. We've been tighter since than." He said and I rubbed his back more.

"That's fucked up." Ruby said.

"What's more messed up is that they branded people in their group with their symbol." He said and I looked at him.

"They didn't brand you did they?"

"No I was to little…. But Clem was." He sad sadly.

"Jesus Christ that's even more fucked up, she was a kid." Louis said.

"That's why Clem doesn't like staying in groups a lot, but I think she really likes this one." He said.

"Well I mean she does have a special someone in the group." Louis teased as he nudge me a bit and I turned red.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said and looked away and had my eyes set on the window.

"Aww come on Vi, Clem was totally crushing on you, and we all know you have a crush on her too." He said and they all laughed a bit.

"Still no idea." I said.

"Ok so you and Clem didn't kiss on the bell tower?" Ruby asked.

"Where you watching us?" I asked as I looked at her.

"It was Louis's idea he watched too." Ruby pointed at him and I looked at him.

"Special someone?" I heard and looked at AJ.

"Well I mean uh."

"What's a crush? Did Clem hurt you?" He asked a bit scared.

"No, no, no Clem didn't hurt me at all." I said and rubbed my face a bit. Great I have to explain to a child what a crush is. Didn't think I'd get to that point in my life honestly.

"A Uh crush is…. Well…. Clem and I uh……. Clem and I have feeling for each other." I said as best as I could.

"Oh like me and Clem?" He asked.

"No No ,um…. More on the romantic side….. like your parents, they loved each other, that's basically what Clem and I have." I tried to explain to the young boy.

"So you and Clem are going to have a kid too?" He asked and everyone laughed and I turned even more red if possible from embarrassment.

"Uh…. How about we let Clementine deal with that question ok?" I asked him and he looked confused but nodded anyway.

"Oh dear sweet innocent AJ you've got a lot to learn when growing up." Louis said.

"Don't grow up to fast though, after all this bullshit with the raiders are done you're gonna stay here and just be a kid." I stated for everyone to hear.

"And Clem too?" He asked.

"Of course, can't kick out Violets girlfriend." Ruby teased and I was about to die from embarrassment.

"Well we should hit the hay, we have a big day in the morning." Ruby said and I nodded as I got up and helped blow the candles out. I helped AJ to his room and watched him go lay in the bed a bit.

"I miss Clementine." He said as he covered himself up and I nodded.

"We all do, but don't worry we're gonna get them back all of them and we can come back to the school and just keep going." I said and he nodded.

"I'm glad our car crashed…. I mean not like that, but if it hadn't we would have never met you guys." He said and I nodded.

"You might have but then again you could be right and y'all would have never met us." I said and rubbed his head gently.

"Goodnight Violet." He mumbled as he drifted to sleep.

"Night bud." I said then got up and headed out the room and I saw Louis.

"You ready for tomorrow?" He asked as we walked to the office.

"Yea… were gonna get them all back, I don't care what we have to do." I said as we got in my office and I saw Ruby coming with us.

"Ok so Willy talked about supplies, and he also said something about horses too." Ruby said and I nodded as I grabbed the map and pointed at the river.

"The supplies are here and the horses were over here, Willy will try to take the supplies and you could set fire to they hay and let the horses run loose, Louis, AJ and I will get on the boat with Willy's bomb and place it in the boiler room when they start it up it should explode but everyone should be off by than." I explained and rubbed my head a bit.

"Any words of wisdom?" Louis asked.

"Yea don't die dude." I said and they both nodded and headed to bed. I also went to sleep and was woken up a few hours later by a soft shake of my shoulder and I looked up to see Tenn.

"We're getting ready." He said and I nodded as I got up and helped grab what we needed. Willy has the bomb with him and I grabbed my meat clever. I looked to see AJ with his gun and Louis had chairels once more.

"Ok everyone let's get to it." I said and we began the long walk to the boat. Once there I looked at AJ who was looking at a walker.

"We need to kill it." He said and I nodded as crept up on it and hit it in the head with my weapon. It went down and AJ helped me pull it to the side.

"So When is this James guy going to show up?" Louis asked and I looked around and saw him and pointed.

"There He is." I said and ruby turned around.

"Good lord." She said and backed up a bit.

"Uh… hello." He said.

"Guys this is my friend James." AJ introduces him and I watch him a bit as they talk a little, I had to stop Willy a bit since he was getting to close to James and I knew he was feeling uneasy.

"Sorry its just, your mask is so cool." Willy said and I patted his shoulder.

"Ok let's get things ready." I said and I saw James nod and I saw AJ open up the walker and I wanted to gag a bit.

"Oh god the smell." Louis said and I rolled my eyes a bit.

"Well they're dead." AJ said as he rubbed the guts on himself and I helped him get his back and I got myself covered too. I stood up and saw the heard of walkers and breathed a bit. Ruby and Willy went to their spots and we began the plan.

"Ok let's…. let's get this over with." I said and we walked into the heard. We stayed behind some walkers so that none of us would get shot at in the open, it was a good idea, then I saw the dock and we hurried off to the side to take some cover.

"We can't just walk across." I said and looked at AJ.

"Just hold on the the side ok?" I asked and he nodded as we got into the water and headed to the side. As we got closer and closer to the boat Louis commented on how the guys were washing off, and I lifted my head up to see if someone was coming, I ducked as a woman ran up and looked to the side and saw a ladder.

"Over there." I pointed and we went under water and headed to the ladder. There were walkers walking under the water, to say I wanted to freak out was an understatement of the century. As we resurfaced I let AJ up first then Louis and I was last up. We hid behind some crates as lights flashed by us and I snuck over to the next set as the lights moved. We then got to the door and AJ was lifted by Louis to get inside as I killed some walkers that were coming closer to us and we ran inside and closed the door and then hid.

"Ok we just have to find the boiler and then the others." I said and they nodded as I looked around a bit and we snuck past a few guards till we got to what looked like the boiler.

"Uh ok, this should be it." I said and opened the door to it and Louis handed me the bomb which I placed inside and closed the door."You only have a limited time Abel said they should be on the second floor." I said and looked around and found a set of stairs which we climbed up and snuck around a bit.

"The delta is your family now Minerva." We heard and looked to see Minnie guarding the cells.

"Damn it why did it have to be her." I mumbled as we snuck up a bit more and the other woman left and I looked around a bit more. I stood up a bit and Minnie pointed her crossbow at me.

"Why the hell are you guys here?" She asked pissed.

"To get our friends back, you know that." I said and AJ had his gun pointed at her.

"Hmm, fine but make it quick." She said. This was strange though, so I kept my guard up and so did AJ as Minnie went to unlock one of the cells, I went in as Louis went to the other one and I saw Clementine in the corner.

"Clem." I said as I got close to her, and then everything went black.


	6. Shipwreck

(Clementines Pov)

I heard my name being called and I turned around to see Violet on the ground and Minnie holding her crossbow above her head and glaring at me then I looked to see AJ and Louis outside the cell. She grabbed Violets weapon and I glared at her. As I got up and she pointed Violets weapon at me.

"What the fuck Minnie this is bullshit." Louis yelled and I watched as Minnie pointed the crossbow at them and I stood up but she pointed it back at me as she set down Violets weapon and a raider picked it up.

"Get in the other cell or I'll shoot Clementine." She said and I looked at them a bit as they backed up and Minnie left the cell and locked it. I looked down at Violet and began to shake her a bit.

"Come on Vi wake up." I said and I saw her slowly open her eyes and I smiled a bit.

"Hey you're awake." I said and she looked at me and her eyes went wide as she got up and touched my eyepatch.

"What the fuck happened to you?" She asked. She looked like she was about to cry.

"That's not important."

"Yes it fucking is Clementine, who did this to you?" She asked pissed and I looked at her.

"Vi right now we need to get everyone out ok? I swear I will tell you who did this once were all safe ok?" I asked.

"It was Minnie wasn't it?" She asked.

"Wasn't it?" She asked again and grabbed my shoulders a bit.

"Vi not now ok." I said and she looked at me then at the gate as we heard footsteps and I saw Lilly and I got in front of Violet a bit.

"Still trying to be the tough little girl hu Clem?" She said.

"Even after you've been beaten you still get up, that's the type of people we need." She said as she pointed her gun at me and Minnie had her crossbow also pointed at me.

"Like I said before I won't be apart of your group none of these kids are." I said and I felt Violet move from behind me and to my side. And Lilly pointed her gun at Violet.

"Don't." I said.

"You don't make the rules Clementine." She said.

"You hurt Violet or anyone else from the school, and there will be hell, I promise you that." I said. She then started to ramble about her father Larry and how if she didn't turn off the lights then no more this and that, it got annoying and when she saw that, that wasn't working she looked over to Minnie.

"Minnie explain to your friends how good you have it at the delta." Lilly said.

"We have everything we need to survive we live a good life." She said.

"Oh yea and what about Sophie hu? She died because of this group." Violet said and I looked to her then Minnie.

"You know why she died? Cause she was a traitor." Lilly said.

"What the fuck?" Violet said and looked to Minnie and then Lilly.

"She was brainwashing me, we have it good at the delta, food, water, everything we could ever ask for in a group, at least those adults don't leave you like they did at the school, remember the bad winters? We have heat too, and when it's hot in the summer we have cool air, it's like the world never ended there." Minnie said and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"So you killed your own damn sister? That's fucking low." I said and she came up to me and I pushed Violet back a bit.

"You have no fucking idea what low is." She says.

"You killed your own sister, your family that's low." I said and she hit me and pin me to the ground and hit me some more and I felt Violet shift as she grabbed Minnie by her shirt and pulled her off of me and as I got up I looked at them as Violet was about to punch her.

"YOU KILLED SOPHIE AND NOW YOU HURT CLEM!" She yelled and I pulled her back as Lilly pointed her gun at Violet.

"YOU'RE A GOD DAMN MONSTER MINNIE YOU'D PROBABLY KILL TENNESSEE TOO IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE!" Violet yelled and I moved her back more to keep her from fighting.

"Tell your friend to calm down Clem or you know what happens." Lilly said.

"Vi please just calm down, I know you're pissed but now."

"She killed Sophie and hurt you this is bullshit Clem and you know it."

"I know that but right now Lilly isn't joking she'll put a bullet in your head without hesitation." I tried to explain and she glared at both the women.

"Doran get the mouthy blond girl, Clem needs some room." Lilly said and I saw the woman Doran walk in.

"No she's fine just stop ok." I said and Lilly looked at me.

"You'll cooperate and join the group than?" She asked.

"Let the others go and I'll join but they have to leave and we cannot go back for them ever again."

"What the fuck Clementine." Louis said and I looked at him and looked at AJ.

"Ah I see your boy is on the boat too…. Bet he's just like you." Lilly said and I saw one of the raiders go to the cell where AJ was.

"Don't touch him." I heard violet say.

"Or what?" Minnie asked.

"I told you what was going to happen if Clem got hurt, if the boy gets hurt, you're all screwed." She said.

"Ooh looks like violet is still being difficult, why am I not surprised?" Minnie said as she looked at Violet more.

"You sound just like Marlon, he killed Brody and you killed Sophie, you're nothing but a monster Minnie." Violet said and I saw Minnie shift a bit.

"Why don't don't you show these kids what happens to disobedience." Lilly said and I saw Minnie nod as she tried to grab Violet but I stopped her and she grabbed me instead.

"Looks like I can bust your other eye." She said and I punched her as she faltered back a bit and glared at me.

"You." Violet tried to say, next thing I know she's charging a Minnie and I see Lilly aiming her gun at Violet and I go for the gun.

"Fucking brats." Lilly said as she kicked me in the gut a few times and I lost my breath a bit but I was able to grab the gun this time and pointed it at her as I held my stomach a bit and glared at her as I stood a bit.

"You…. Can't shoot me." She said and I pointed it at Minnie who froze and I saw Violet looking at me and I looked back at Lilly.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your brains out?" I asked as I pointed the gun back at her.

"For one thing you're out numbered, you shoot me, Doran there shoots you and then she shoots Violet too." She said and I looked as Doran points her gun at me.

"You…. You don't know what I'm capable of." I said.

"Then go ahead shoot me Clementine." She said and placed her head on the barrel of the gun. I heard a tacking sound for a second and I was so tempted to pull the trigger.

"See you can't do it, you're weak." She said and I cocked the gun and she looked at me.

"I've killed a lot of people before, living people, people like you." I said as I still held the gun and I heard the boat start.

"Shit, shit, shit." I heard Violet say as she panicked a bit and Minnie grabbed her and pinned her to the ground and Lilly moved and my finger pulled the trigger, shooting Lilly right between the eyes. I watched as her body dropped and I backed up a bit gun still in hand.

"LILLY!" I heard Minnie scream and I was tackled to the ground and I felt something sharp go into my chest before I saw Louis and AJ come over and pull Minnie off and I saw Violet punching her knocking her out. I looked to see Doran on the ground knocked out as well as Aasim and Omar look over to us.

"We have to get off the boat now." Violet said as she got to the door with the others, I looked to Minnie and groaned as I grabbed her and picked her up as best as I could.

"Leave the bitch Clem she deserves to go down with this boat." Violet said and I shook my head.

"No just I'll fucking deal with her ok, let's just go." I said and I saw Violet roll her eyes and we all left the cells and Louis along with the others showed us the way out. By the time we got to the entrance of the boat there was a loud banging sound.

"What the hell?" I asked as we hurried up and left off the boat. With a few walkers here and there that they were able to take down. We ran for a bit and I heard a huge explosion and I turn to see the boat engulfed in flames.

"What the fuck just…. Just happened?" I asked as I looked to the kids as I set Minnie down.

"I'm so fucking surprised that worked." Violet said out of breath.

"What did you guys do?" I tried to ask but AJ interrupted.

"Willy made a bomb from Mitch's old supplies and the bomb we named it Ruby's revenge and that was just wow and we walked in a heard of walkers too that James was able to come and help us, Clem we got you guys out too, it's like in those comic books." He said and I looked at him a bit and blinked a few times.

"Uh…. Well uh." I tried to say and looked around.

"That sounds gonna draw walkers in like crazy so we should head to the school fast." I heard and looked at Louis.

"Yea uh…. Y'all have a lot of explaining to do." I said.

"Same with you and what happened to your eye." Violet said and I looked at her.

"My eye isn't an issue Vi."

"Yes it is, I-" She said and I went up and kissed her. Just to shut her up a bit.

"I know…. Let's just go ok?" I asked and she nodded and I went to grab Minnie but I saw Louis holding her.

"I got her, you should talk to Violet." He said and I nodded as I looked to see AJ Walking next to her.

"We did a awesome job right Violet?" I heard him ask as I got closer.

"Yep, good thinking on keeping that small knife on you, that was smart."

"Clem had said that uh versa…"

"Versatility is not over rated." I said and he looked at me and nods.

"Yea that." He said and I watched him talk to Violet more and more.

"And Clem you were so cool protecting Violet too." He said to me and I looked at him a bit.

"I uh…" I tried to say something but rubbed the back of my neck instead.

"Hey little guy why don't you help Louis with Minnie make sure she doesn't try anything ok?" She had asked him and he nodded then went over to Louis and I looked at her as we continued to walk.

"He seems to be taking a liking to you." I said.

"Yep, he's a good kid, got a lot of questions to ask too." She said.

"Like what?"

"Things like how was the world before and other things." She said and I looked at her.

"He wasn't any trouble?" I asked.

"Nope, He was great help, if it weren't for him we wouldn't have known about covering our scents from the walkers, or about James." She said and I looked at him then back to her and then forward.

"Clem… how's your eye?" She asked.

"It…. It's fine trust me."

"Can you see out of it?" She asked.

"…… no…. not anymore." I said and she stopped in front of me.

"I'll um…. Well take a look at it once we get back home." She said and I nodded as she grabbed my hand gently and we saw Ruby and Willy by the school gates.

"Glad y'all showed up, there's a few walkers roaming around the school but other than that we're good." Ruby told us.

"That's good, Willy you get some of those supplies?" Violet asked.

"Yep, these are awesome, some food, and there's some sheetmetal too but I left that down at the river till the walkers clear out." He said and violet nodded and I watched as AJ ran in the gates and Louis walked passed us.

"You can place her in one of the empty rooms, and make sure she's tied up Louis." Violet said and he nodded.

"Yes ma'am." He said with a mock salute and I looked over to Violet.

"Seems you're handling the leadership role." I said and she nods a bit.

"Yea, I was so lucky this plan worked though, I mean damn…. That bomb." She said and I smiled at her and patted her shoulder.

"Hey, you did great." I said and she nodded as we walked to the dorm rooms and we saw Ruby come out of one of them.

"Minnie is gonna be our for a few hours the most is a day." She said and I look at her.

"Why did you save her?" Violet asked and I looked at her.

"Let's talk about this in private ok." I said and she looked at Ruby then nodded as we headed up to her office, we had passed the music room and I looked to see a banner so I stop and go look at it.

"…. It was AJ's idea… the banner." Violet said and I read it and laughed a bit.

"So y'all had a party?" I asked.

"Not my idea but…. We though hey if we're gonna die might as well party before we do." She said and I nodded.

"Yea that's better than what I would have done."

"What uh… what would you have done?" She asked as she closed the door.

"…. Uh… I would have had just went in head on." I said.

"Well the old bastard that ran this school has a few bottles of Uh…. Drinks that us older kids can have…. I think Aasim, Omar and you deserve a few after all this." She said and I looked at her and smiled gently.

"Yea…. That actually sounds good." I said.

"I'll make sure the kids are in bed and us older people can sit in here and just…. Relax." She said and I nodded as she left out the room and I looked around a bit and sat at the piano and played a few keys. It reminded me of my old music teacher at school, and when my mom took me to piano lessons when I begged for her to sign me up, we even got me into a guitar class once or twice it was nice.

"Hey Vi said to meet up in here." I heard and turned to see Louis and I waved a bit.

"You know how to play?" He asked.

"Only the kid stuff, Mary had a little lamb, hot cross buns, the kids classics." I said and he sat next to me.

"I could teach you to play more music if you'd like." He said and I rubbed my neck.

"Eh no, sorry I um…. I haven't played since all this happened and I only played for my parents." I said as I tapped a key.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I forgot you were pretty young when this happened." He said.

"Eight years old…. And I was so excited for school to start too." I said and he laughed and I saw the others come in.

"Hey guys Clem's a school nerd." He said and I shoved him.

"Hey, I mean come on you had to have been top of your class if you like school that much." He said as he dusted himself off and I turned around so my feet weren't facing the piano.

"Actually I was behind in school, I should have been in the third grade going into fourth but I was in first grade going into the second." I said and looked at them and then I saw Violet come in with some bottles. I smiled a bit as we all got to the center of the music room and all sat down.


	7. Let’s Just Talk

(Violets Pov)

"But I want to be near Clem I have to protect her." AJ said as I helped him into the bed and I smiled a bit at him.

"She's gonna be fine, I'll protect her for you tonight and then tomorrow you can protect her." I said. I was still going to watch her tomorrow either way but AJ needed to be around Clementine again.

"So we take shifts?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yep, we take shifts, I've got night and you've got day, deal?" I asked and he nodded a bit and then hugged me and I hugged him back.

"Keep a close eye on her." He said and I nodded.

"I promise I will." I told him and he let me go and laid back down. I looked over to Tenn, and Willy who also wanted to sleep in AJ's room, their own small sleepover so to speak.

"You guys good?" I asked as I went over to them and they nodded.

"Yea we're good." Tenn said and I nodded as I pulled the covers over him.

"You're acting so much like a mom." Willy commented on.

"Hm, no I'm not, just making sure you guys are warm like every year." I said and I saw Tenn smile a bit and I chuckled.

"Ok, bed time for you guys, tomorrow is gonna be a pretty busy day." I said and they all said goodnight as I went to the door and I waved to them. I closed the door and headed to my office. As I passed the others I told them to head to the music room for a small get together and they all nodded and I got inside my office. I looked around for the bottles I mentioned to Clementine. Once I found them hidden in the the old safe that no longer worked I headed down to the music room and heard Clem mention something school related as I opened the door. She smiles and we all go to sit in the center of the music room.

"Oooh So that's what you got for us." Louis said and I rolled my eyes.

"Let's be honest here we all need a drink, especially Omar, Aasim and Clementine." I said as I sat the bottles on the ground and I looked at Clementine who sat next to me.

"Alcohol hu?" She asked and I nodded.

"Last time I had a drink it was after AJ was born." She said and rubbed her neck a bit.

"How Old were you?" Louis asked as he opened one of the bottles, I think it was rum or something.

"Eleven…. But my first drink was this homemade whisky with Nick, 'it'll be your first and probably last' He was wrong but… he didn't stay around long enough." She said and I watched her a bit.

"Damn, see now that would have gotten you sent here." Aasim commented and she laughed.

"Maybe… not sure if my parents would have been ok so long as it was a sip." She said and she grabbed one of the bottles and it was fireball whisky.

"So what was the last drink you had?" I asked a bit curious.

"Rum… Jane was telling me a story on how she was drinking this… damn she couldn't remember it, but it had sugar crystals in it, she told me that glass looks a hell of a lot like sugar crystals too." She said and looked at the bottle a bit. Everyone was able to have their own bottle but if we wanted to share that was fine by us. So Clem took a huge swig of her drink and shook her head and made a face then handed me the bottle.

"So what other bad things have you done to your health?" Ruby asked and Clem smiled a bit.

"Got to smoke a cigarette, actually it became a nasty habit but not to the point where I smoked everyday you know, I stopped when I was…. Fourteen I think… it was around winter time I know that." She said and rubbed her neck. I took a drink from the bottle and handed it back to her and she held it. Then took another huge swig.

"Kenny drank a lot once we got to Savanna." She said as she looked at the bottle.

"Kenny?" I asked and she nodded.

"Ironically he got his eye busted too…. Same eye, same exact eye as me, but his…. His was from a radio, not a knife and all." She mumbled.

"Why was his eye busted?" Louis asked carefully.

"Oh because we stole the walkie talkies from this fucked up group, I mean the man who ran it was a psycho." She said and took another drink but smaller this time and handed the bottle back to me.

"He pushes a guy right off the roof of a building, right in front of me and Sarah…. Reggie he only had one arm too." She said and pointed to her arm.

"And all because I decided to help Sarah…. Shit she was so…. Innocent, like she… she was fifteen or something and still had the… the mindset of a child…. Yet here I come strolling in, dog bite from hell stitching myself up….. her dad…. He sheltered her…. And it all went bad." She said and rubbed her head.

"Stay away from my daughter." She said.

"And then the fucker asked me to watch his daughter, Seriously? He couldn't make up his mind." She said and I took another small drink.

"Maybe he knew you'd protect his daughter?" Ruby asked and Clem laughed.

"After I just convinced her to help me steal medicine?…. I'll give it to Carlos though….. after he died Sarah just…. Just gave up 'she would cease to function'…. And she did." Clem said and looked up.

"I'm sorry." Omar said.

"Don't be…. She's been gone but…. Least she's with her mom and dad… I hope." Clem said and I handed her the bottle and she set it in front of her.

"And the sad part was, I taught her how to shoot a gun… just how Lee taught me… told her to hold her breath and she puffs her cheeks like the hamster at my school did…. It was funny but…. I didn't laugh at the time… I was so serious at the time, barely had any fun since…." She stopped and shook her head and then drank once more the bottle almost empty. She shook her head and I watched her carefully. At this point she's got to be a bit drunk.

"She must have been thankful that you at least taught her." Aasim said and Clem nodded.

"Don't get me wrong, she was… first thing she did with the gun was point it at me, it wasn't loaded or she said it wasn't but you can't be to carefully." She said and tapped her legs a bit.

"Any good memories to go by?" I asked. She looked at me a bit and had a thinking face on and points her finger up a bit.

"When Omid would See me sad he'd make a joke, I always loved it when we played at the old parks together, he was going to be a dad so might as well give him some practice." She said and looked down.

"And Christa…. She tried to let me be a kid but it was so hard to do that when you didn't have a safe place to stay." She said.

"That was Omids wife…. She was gonna have a kid too but….. bad things happened…. Like always."

"AJ said y'all kept moving…. Why?" I asked carefully and Clem's face was filled with grief at this point. She looked like she was about to cry but she didn't want to.

"…. He was still teaching me…. Even when he was dying that man was still teaching me." She mumbled and finished off the fireball.

"Lee told me many things, most import thing though… keep that hair short." She said and laughed a bit. We didn't laugh though.

"He was taking advice from a drunk hobo who lived on the train we had, and cut my hair that same day…. But honest to god that was the best advice he gave me, especially when he talked about Andy." She said and shivered a bit, she looked like she wanted to vomit. Probably from the drinks.

"Andy?" Louis asked and she nodded and looked at both of us.

"Remember when we played that card game?" She asked.

"Which one?" I asked back.

"Before Marlon and Brody died." She said so bluntly.

"Yea?" I asked and looked to the other kids as they watched her.

"Remember…. Remember when I asked what…. What the grossest things y'all ate was?" She asked a bit slurred.

"Yea Cantaloupe." Louis said to try and make us laugh but Clem. She was serious right now.

"And I said a guys leg?" She said and both me and Louis nodded.

"I wasn't lying…. I was so close to it, but Lee stopped me…. Andy, Brenda, and Danny…. They ate people….. they fucking ate people, and… and tried to…. Tried to feed us marks legs…. All he had was an arrow in his shoulder…. A fucking arrow…. In the shoulder." She said and pointed to her shoulder.

"They probably would have eaten me too if they…. Found out I got shot in mine." She said and looked around a bit.

"They… they were sick people…. They took our kindness and Lee…. He tried to help them with their fence…. Katjaa fucking helped with their cow, and what do those fuckers do? They try to feed us marks legs." She said and I grabbed her hand and she looked at me.

"Oooh But Larry, he got mad at Lee, started fighting with him like always, he ate marks legs… duck did too but we didn't know…. Then when we all got locked up in the meat locker…. Larry ended up having a heart attack…. Didn't have his pills oh no." She said and cleared her throat a bit.

"He died when Kenny smashes his head in with a salt lick…. And I saw it…. I shouldn't have, I though Lee was gonna be able to save him but nope…. Kenny smashed his head in." She said and she leaned on me a bit.

"After that Kenny got mad at Lee, said to Lee that he was thinking about his family…. But Lee thought of everyone before himself…. He'd starve so others could eat, I'd try to give him food but he always said 'no you enjoy it, you deserve it' as if I had anything to help the group." She said.

"He was thinking of your future." Ruby said.

"Yea… when I shot him…. Never learned to shoot a gun until then…. And duck had died too that same day…. I might have been annoyed by his talking about comics and stuff but god I'd give anything just to hear him again, annoying me…. Then me placing bugs on his pillow in revenge." She'd say and smiled.

"I heard him tell Lee, that there were bugs under the staircases at the motel, and duck told him not to tell me…. Thinking I'd be scared…. He was like an older brother." She says and I felt something wet on my shoulder and I saw tears in her eyes and I wiped them gently.

"Then raiders attacked our home because they weren't given their meds… Ben had been giving them to the raiders thinking they had his friends or something…. He was the reason duck died and…. And Katjaa, god that sweet woman….. she couldn't bare to see her only son die so she." She stopped and made a finger gun and pointed to her head then moved it back as if it was shot. Then placed her hand back down.

"I didn't see it but I heard it…. And kenny wasn't the same after that."

"God this is messed up." Louis said and she looked at him.

"And yet you told me I should be use to it." She said getting pissed as she lifted her head up from my shoulder and I still held her arm so she wouldn't do anything.

"You should be use to it, it's like a second home', your words right?" She asked.

"Clem I." He tried to say.

"No… you said that, you can be sorry all you want but…. You still said it, as if living out there was way better than living here…. I've seen so much shit I'm…. I'm surprised I haven't blown…. Blown my brains out." She said.

"Don't talk like that." Ruby said.

"And why not? It's true….. after Lee died I didn't know what to do, I just saw my mom and dad as walkers, I shot the man who lied to me saying my parents were alive…. They weren't, they died long before I got to them…. Lee still saved me after I acted like a fucking brat to him… all that shit and yet here I am…. Alive… breathing, not rotting on the side of the road like Carly…. Or a walker…. Like my parents…. Or frozen in a lake like…. Like Luke….. Lee… shouldn't have gone after me." She said and I looked at her.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but Lee saved you… he didn't have to, he wasn't your parents but he probably thought of you as a daughter, he saved you because he wanted you alive, and look, AJ has you now, you're here with us, with… with me." I told her and she looked at me. I know she was going through survivors guilt, I've read about it a few times in the old library.

"Things happen for a reason, Clem, if you weren't here where do you think AJ would be?" I asked.

"I…. I don't know."

"Exactly, you don't, Maybe something bad could have happened to him, he told us you stole medicine for him. So he could live, you gave up everything just so that boy could live just like Lee did and would still do just for you." I told her and she looked down.

"I guess he didn't tell you about the ranch hu?" She asked and whipped her face.

"He… no… he didn't." I said and she rubbed her face a bit.

"That boy probably saw more bodies drop than I ever will from that place, they weren't good people…. And David sent him there… David and Linguard knew these people and still sent him there…. He was so small when I got him back, and so scared…. He'd hit me thinking I was a bad person…. If I came up behind him, bam…. Elbow in the gut then a punch to the face…. Because of my actions that boy has trauma worse than mine…. That's why I couldn't do things like sneak up on him and pick him up like my dad use to do…. He'd hit me pretty good too, he gave me a black eye once." She said and I looked at her.

"Couldn't treat him like a kid." She said and rubbed her face and then grabs her hat. Taking it off.

"It's my fault he does that…." She says.

"But he's alive, and getting use to things, you've been teaching him."

"Yea and Marlon ended up with a bullet in his head…. And AJ ends up getting shot…. Now he's got a scar because I didn't teach that boy right." She said and leaned on the piano chair.

"No you did, you taught him to take down bad people."

"But Marlon didn't have the gun anymore."

"He killed Brody." I said and she looked at me.

"Because I got her to talk about the raiders."

"It was eating away at her." Louis said.

"Still got her killed… and then Marlon, and then Mitch….who's next? Probably me." She said.

"No you're not no one is." Ruby said.

"You can't say that…. Can never say that in this world." She mumbled and I look at her sadly.

"Clem." I tried to say but she stopped me and I looked at all of us and sat up a bit.

"AJ…. He's a good boy…. He just needs to know he's…. in a safe place…. Then he'll get use to it…. But…. If something changes he's going to question it…. Like any kid would…. I just couldn't each him right, and still can't…. been taking care of him since he was born and I was still learning to survive on my own." She said. Rambling a bit and she rubbed her face.

"Maybe you should head to bed." I said and she sighs then nods a bit and I help her up as she seats a bit.

"You're really good people." She mumbles to me and I nod.

"You're a good person too." I said as I take her to my room since the boys are in hers.

"I'm not good, I'm bad….. Rebecca would be so disappointed in me…. Everyone would be." She says as I help her more.

"They wouldn't, they'd understand." I said.

"I've killed so many people…. I didn't even mean to shoot Lilly she just moved and I…. I just…. I thought she was." Clem tried to say and she shook her head and I opened the door and helped her inside and laid her on my bed gently and I went to close the door.

"Does that door lock?" She asked.

"Yea why?" I asked.

"Can you just lock it? I have a tendency to…. Get up a lot when like this." She mumbled and I nodded as I locked the door and went over to her and she looked up at me.

"You're very pretty, no wonder Minnie likes you." She said and I looked at her.

"You're pretty too you know." I said.

"Even with a busted eye?"

"Yep, even with a busted eye, but that doesn't matter." I told her and she chuckles a bit.

"What about a missing finger?" She asked and held up her hand which showed her ring finger as a nub.

"So what if your fingers missing? Doesn't mean I wouldn't like you any less." I told her.

"…. My dad…. My dad would joke about me getting married a lot." She mumbled a bit and l watched her as she looked at her hat which she placed on her face covering it up.

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yea…. 'Oh you're gonna marry a nice boy Clementine he's gonna love you, and cherish you, and you're such a sweetheart." She said and I held her hand gently.

"Wonder what he'd think if he knew I was with you." She said as she moved her hat down and looked at me.

"Hmmm not sure, probably ask why I only eat chicken nuggets." I said and she chuckled a bit and I looked at her.

"My mom would talk to my grandma a lot saying things like 'oh I bet Clem would get all the boys and girls to fall for her when she gets older' and my grandma agreed with her too, my grandma was so nice." She said and closed her eye.

"I bet she was."

"Yea…. I miss them…. so much."

"I know."

"….. this is gonna sound…. Morbid but….. if anything happened to you…. Or AJ….. I just…. I wouldn't be able to handle it." She said and I rubbed her hand gently as I looked at her.

"Same here…. That boys grown on me…. Uh… before we got you guys he had asked if…. You and I would…. Have a kid together…. I didn't explain things as good as you when trying to talk about relationships." I said and she laughed and I turned red.

"It's fine… I'll explain when he's older." She said and looked up at me then looked down and back up before she sat up a bit and moved over and patted the bed. I looked at her and chuckled then sat on the bed next to her and she looked at me.

"This has been one hell of a year." She said and I nodded.

"Yea…. You came crashing into our lives." I said and she laughed a bit.

"Literally." She said and I looked at her more.

"I'd like to…. To look at the stars again…. When I'm sober." She said and I nodded.

"Yea… we can do that, tomorrow if you want." I offered and she nodded a bit.

"Yea…. That sounds nice." She said and laid her head on my shoulder and I wrapped an arm around her and she cuddles me a bit.

"Did I talk to much?" She asked.

"No, you're just letting things out, it's fine." I told her and I combed my fingers through her hair.

"This feels nice." She mumbled and I smiled.

"Yea?" I asked and she nods gently.

"Yea….. I'm sorry if you look at me different with all I said…. I'm not as good as her." She says so softly.

"As good as who?" I ask.

"Minnie…. She's good I guess, just lost." She mumbles and I look at her.

"Do you think that I'd leave you for her?" I asked.

"Probably….. I mean I'd leave myself if I could…. Don't know what is it with people liking me….. Gabe apparently had a crush on me….. but I didn't like him like that." She mumbled and I chuckled.

"Bet he thought you were a badass."

"Yea…. I guess so…. He'd listen to me, a girl he barely knew but wouldn't listen to his own uncle…. It was so weird." She said and moved her head into my chest more. My heart was pounding by now it was like crazy.

"What happened to him? Is he still alive?" I asked and she just kept quiet and held my hand.

"His dad….. his dad was part of the reason he's gone." She said.

"Oh…. I'm sorry."

"It's fine…. Javie was devastated though…. You know they call walkers Muertos?" She asked and looked up at me.

"Isn't that Spanish or something?" I asked and she nods a bit.

"It means monsters I think…. We argued on what we called them and he asked 'what do you call the ones that run' and I was just a pissed off bratty teenager and said 'they're all fucking walkers'…. I didn't mean to act like that though…. I was just trying to find a car to…. Get AJ back." She says and I feel her mess with my fingers a bit.

"You tired?" I asked.

"Just a bit." She mumbled and I kept combing my fingers through her hair. I felt her shift a bit and she was looking right at me, and then she kissed me.


	8. Should We Forgive?

(Violets Pov)

Clem was kissing me and I held her waist gently as she cupped my face with her hands. When she pulled away she looks down at me a bit and kisses me again, and again, and again. It was addicting, she was addicting.

"Clem maybe you should sleep?" I asked and she shook her head no.

"No, I don't want to sleep." She said and kisses me again and I stop her and I see she smirking at me and laughs a bit.

"Sorry." She says and lays her head on my chest again.

"No it's good." I tell her and I rub her head gently to help her sleep.

"You're trying to make me sleepy." She mumbles.

"Oh I am?" I asked and she nods.

"Drinking is fun." She mumbled.

"Is that so?"

"Probably….. wouldn't drink a lot though." She says and I chuckle a bit and she grabs my hand gently and messes with my fingers a bit and I hold her hand gently.

"You uh…. You wanna know why…. I kept Minnie alive?" She asked and I look at her as she looks at me as she sits up a bit again.

"Maybe when you're sober?" I asked and she looks at me more and kisses me again. I kiss her gently and I felt her move my hand to the bottom of her shirt and I freeze a bit and pull away.

"Hey Clem uh, maybe now wouldn't be the best time to do uh… that." I said and she looks at me and laughed a bit.

"I… I didn't mean for it to…. To seem like that." She said laughing more and she lays next to me covering her mouth a bit and I look down at her.

"I…. want to forgive her….. I want Tenn to try and have his sister back….. those could be many reasons as to why I saved her but….. that wouldn't be all true." She says and I look her in the eye as she faces me a bit.

"What did she do?" I asked carefully and Clem sighs as she lifts her shirt up a bit, only showing her abdomen and there was a huge jagged wound going up in one direction with stitches and I freaked out. No freaking out would be an understatement as to what I was feeling.

"No… no, no, she did that?" I asked and she rubs her face.

"Well…. She did and didn't." She says and I look at her and I get off the bed.

"Don't, that's why I wanted her to stay…." She says and I look at her.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, what are you going to do? Do the same thing to her?" I asked.

"No… god no that's just…. Barbaric….. she's uh… prisoner right now and could redeem herself?" She questioned herself and I shook my head.

"No, no, no the second she wakes up she's fucking gone you hear me?" I told her and Clem got up.

"Look I think….. let's just talk about this later ok? I shouldn't have said anything." She says as she goes to the door but I stop her.

"No it's a good thing you did, what if your stitches opened up while on the boat? What if something happened and all we see is blood coming from you hu?" I asked and she looked at me.

"I'm fine."

"No you're fucking not Clementine, god damn it you have a fucking wound that's god who knows how big or what it's done to your insides…. Fuck did they mess anything up? I'm gonna go get Ruby." I said as I moved to open the door and get Ruby cause now I was panicking but I felt Clem grab my shoulder.

"Vi, I'm fine I swear I… look let's just deal with it later."

"No we deal with this shit now Clem." I said and she looked at me I was on the verge of crying.

"How do you think I feel…… for fuck sake they busted your eye, they cut you open like…. Fuck." I said and felt a few tears go down my cheek and I felt her brush them away.

"What if you died? What if that injury kills you, what if you kept it from me and… and it got infected or something…. I couldn't handle it Clem, and how…. How would I have had to explain to AJ that you weren't coming back." I cried more and felt her hug me. I wanted to yell at her for not saying anything sooner, I wanted to hurt Minnie, I wanted to do something to deal with this bullshit.

"I know, I know, I just….. in the morning we'll talk to Ruby, you and the others have to be tired from all this ok? Let her and the others rest, and we can deal with this in the morning." She says and holds my head to her chest, I was gentle because I didn't know how far up the wound was.

"Why did they do that to you?" I asked quietly.

"I think you'd have an idea as to why." She says and then we head to the bed, she goes in first and then me and she lays her head back on my chest and I just look at the bunk above me.

"……You know I'm going to hurt her." I said bluntly.

"Don't."

"She hurt you."

"She didn't do it."

"She helped them didn't she?" I asked.

"….." She kept quiet and it made things worse. For fuck sake Clem.

"Yes or no Clem?" I asked.

"….. just sleep." She said quietly and I stopped asking her questions. She's so tired I could hear it, I slowly rubbed the back of her head again and watched her as she slept. All the shit she's been through and she's still putting up a mask. Hours had passed and I saw the sun peaking out the windows and Clem slowly moved in her sleep but didn't wake up, which was good. I heard a light knock at the door and I slowly moved Clem off of me and she grabs my pillow gently and I move some hair out of her face, I then go and unlock the door and I see Ruby.

"Breakfast is ready." She says.

"I'm gonna bring Clem's food to her, she's still sleeping." I said and she nods and we both walk out to the courtyard and I see the kids eating at the picnic table.

"So what are we going to do with Minnie?" I heard and looked to Aasim.

"Clem said she'd deal with her."

"But what would you do?" Louis asked.

"Kick her out, she doesn't belong her." I said as I made Clem's bowl. That's not what I'd really want to do but I won't tell them about Clementines injuries yet, she'd tell them soon enough I hope.

"What about Tenn." Omar asked as he sat with us.

"I…. he's gonna have to deal with it." I said and they all looked at me.

"You ok?" Louis asked.

'No.' I thought and just shook my head a bit.

"Tired and still processing everything Clementine said last night." I said and saw the others nod.

"Yea she just…. Basically told us her childhood right there." Louis said and rubbed his neck.

"And we didn't make it any easier on her when…." Omar tried to say and we knew what he wanted to say.

"Yea…. But she's back, and they're both staying, they earned their stay here." I said and they nodded. I then heard a door open and looked to see Clementine walking out and she rubbed her eye a bit from sleepiness.

"Clem you should sleep more." I said as she sat next to me.

"Nope got work to do." She says and I look at her as I hand her, her food and she eats it slowly.

"What work?" I asked.

"Help with the gate, and all that."

"How about something light to do?" I offered and she looks at me and shakes her head.

"I can handle heavy work." She says and I look at her a bit worried.i just didn't want her to strain herself.

"Well you could work with me instead? Make some plans and then later we can fix the gate?" I offered and she nods. Probably a bit agitated at me for trying to keep her from doing heavy work. I know she's strong, I just. I just worry more now.

"When do you think Minnie will wake up?" I heard Tenn ask as he came over to our table with AJ who was showing Clementine his drawing he had made for the party.

"Not sure, but give 'Er take an hour or so, I mean she really got knocked out." Ruby said and I clenched my fists a bit.

"Didn't know violet had such a good right hook." Louis said making some of the kid laugh.

"Violet is awesome." I heard and looked to AJ as he talked to Clem more and I decided to hold her hand gently under the table and she looks at me and smiles a bit.

"Sooo what are you two love birds going to do for a date?" Louis says and I roll my eyes.

"Aww don't be like that Vi, maybe you and Clem could double date with Aasim and Ruby." He says and I hear both of the two cough a bit. It made Clem laugh a bit.

"What the heck is a date?" She asked and all of us looked at her.

"No seriously like…. A play date or what?" She asked.

"Wow…. Uh." Louis said and I rubbed my neck.

"I thought AJ would ask that question before you would." Ruby commented and I looked at her.

"Uh well, it's when a couple does something nice together for an entire day or uh." I tried to explain and I looked at Clem who was smiling and covering her mouth and I realized she was messing with us.

"Oh come on really?" I asked as she laughed so much and I saw her hold her stomach. I got worried and she shook her head as she calmed down a bit.

"I know what a date is….. oh I got y'all good." She says as she calms down more.

"Hey she got us good." Louis said and I rubbed my face.

"So Clem I gotta look at that eye of yours." Ruby said and I saw her nod as she ate a little more and then gave the rest to AJ. I watched her carefully and she rubbed my hand a bit with her thumb as Ruby checked her eye and everyone was gone.

"Clem." I said and she looks at me from the corner of her eye and sighs.

"Ruby there's another uh…. Injury you need to look at." Clementine says and Ruby looks at her.

"Sure where?" She asked.

"Can we do this inside?" She asked and I nodded as I helped her up and we took her to the old nurses room and she sat on the medic bed.

"Ok what's the injury?" Ruby asks and I looked at Clementine a bit and she looks at me.

"Could you leave the room Violet?" She asked and I looked at her a bit.

"I already know though." I said and she nodded.

"Yes but I don't want you to." She tried to say and I looked at her a bit and kissed her then left out the room. I went outside and saw that Minnie was walking in the hall with Tenn and Louis so I went up to them and shoved her into the wall.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" I growled out as she looked at me.

"Vi." I heard and felt Louis try to pull me away but I shoved him away and then pinned Minnie to the wall again.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO CLEMENTINE!" I yelled and she just looks at me.

"I didn't do shit to her." She says and I punch her.

"VIOLET!" I heard Tenn say and I glared at her.

"You did something to her, something really bad I swear to fucking god Minnie I'll kill you right now if you don't start talking." I threatened and then I felt myself get pulled away.

"Violet now is not the time." Louis says and I shove him away and glare at him.

"Listen here Louis I swear to god the next time you put your hands on me I will break your fucking fingers." I told him and he backed off.

"Violet." I heard and looked to see Clementine looking at me and then Minnie and then back to me.

"We will deal with this later, you and I have some work to do." Clementine said and I looked at her and shook my head.


	9. Let it go for Now

(Clementines Pov)

I was able to stop violet from hurting Minnie and she shook her head at me.

"No…. no, no, no I'm not gonna let you just stand there and tell me that we will talk about this later Clementine…. I know you want to do what's right but for fuck sake Clem." She said and I looked at her.

"Ok…. Do you want me to tell them?" I asked and she looked at me. She looked confused and angry and I looked at the others and motioned for them to leave us alone. Once alone I looked at her.

"Vi…. Do you want me to tell them?" I asked and she nodded a bit then shook her head.

"I…. I do but then…. I want you to do it on your own time cause it's selfish of me to ask you to." She said and I came up to her and kissed her gently.

"I'll tell them, but I'll also tell them not to do anything to Minnie….. Tenn still needs his sister and I'm not gonna take that moment away from him….. like it was taken from me." I said and she looked up at me and I closed my eye.

"When I was younger…. It was three months into this new world we were just thrown into…. There was this man on my old radio I use to carry around." I said and she looked around a bit and I began to walk her to her office.

"I'd talk to this man a lot… tell him what my group had done, what we did…. What Lee had done….. and in return he'd tell me that my parents were alive and well with him." I said and she looked at me surprised.

"But…. I found out he was lying…. And because of that one small lie…. Everything changed." I said and we got into her office. Once inside I closed the door.

"Because of his lie, I began to hate Lee when he told me we couldn't go find my parents anymore, after he promised me so many times before…. I began to listen to the man, and once we got to savanna, hell broke lose." I said and she just watched me.

"I ended up running away with the strange man, hoping to see my mom and dad again." I said and took off my hat.

"To give my father his hat back, after he said I could borrow it…. To hug my mom and tell her I love her so much….. to tell them both that I loved them so much….. but it was all a lie."

"Clem."

"He lies to me…. Telling me my parents are well, that he was with them, that they wanted to see me….. and Lee….. god, Lee he got bit coming after me…. I was told by Christa and Omid that he got bit… finding my hat." I said and stroked the blood stain on it.

"I found out they were walkers after I shot the man who tried to hurt Lee….. we were walking in a herd of walkers, miles long….. and I saw them…. And they saw me." I said and shook my head a bit.

"I want Tenn…. To have the last bit of family he has left in this world…. Something I couldn't have anymore…. Something I use to dream about until I grew up, till I realized that my parents are gone and they won't come back…. That Lee will never come back…. That I'm not this nine year old little girl anymore who has to rely on others to help her, but instead they rely on me." I said and I felt her hug me.

"Clem…. Your heart is in the right place, I know this but…. I can't trust her near you… AJ…. Even Tenn….. if she was able to do this to you just because you didn't want to join that stupid group as their solider then fuck her…. If she hurts you guys or worse I don't know what I'll do…. With out you." She said and I looked down at her a bit.

"Clem I don't want you or AJ to live in fear or struggle in this world anymore, I want you to stay here with us, to…. To have a home…. But if Minnie is going to make that hard for you… or AJ especially AJ…. She's going to have to leave, and she can suffer out there for all I care." She says.

"Don't say that Violet, deep down you know that's a horrible thing to do."

"No…. deep down I know it's the right thing to do, especially if she tries anything with your boy, he's basically your son and….. I don't want her to hurt your family." She said and I nodded.

"I will make the call for her to leave ok?" I asked and she shakes her head.

"No I will, that's my choice, this is my choice." She says and I know that I can't convince her otherwise and I nod silently.

"Ok…. Your call." I said and she nods and looks down at my shirt.

"How…. How bad is it? The wound…how." She tried to ask again and I cupped her cheek.

"It's fine, Ruby checked it and put some disinfectant on it, though I do have to be careful with the stitching and stuff." I explained and she nods.

"That's why you'll be on planning duty until it gets better, you don't need to strain yourself." She says and I chuckle softly at her.

"Violet, you're talking to me here, the same girl who had a concussion in a car crash and still helped kill walkers once I woke up, I can handle a little work." I said and she looks at me and crosses her arms.

"Come on, just a little work, maybe make some bombs with Willy?" I asked and she looks at me sadly.

"I…. ok yea, but you can't lift up the fertilizer." She says and I nod and do a mock salute to her.

"Roger that." I said and she smiles just a bit and I kiss her then we head to the courtyard where she sees Minnie and glared at her and crosses her arms again once we're near everyone. I really don't want to tell them but I have no choice if I want violet to calm down a bit.

"Ok, so…. Minnie is staying with us, but has some special rules to abide by." I said."Ok?" Louis asked and I breath in a bit."She's not allowed to have any weapons of any kind on her." I said.

"That's bullshit." She says.

"Be lucky you're even staying here you fucking psycho." Violet said and I grabbed her arm.

"Reasons for this is because I have a large injury going from….. my abdomen and upwards……. Along with a large gash on my back." I said.

"WAIT WHAT?!" Aasim and Omar both yell.

"Calm down." I said.

"A gash on your back? Are you fucking kidding me." Violet said and I kept her back before she hurt Minnie once more.

"Vi stop we had an agreement."

"No fuck that I didn't know about this other fucking injury of yours Clem." She said and I got in front of her.

"And now you do, so drop it please." I begged and she looks at me. Sadness and anger.

"Fucking hell, fine your call like always." She says and I look down a bit and then back up.

"Another rule, Minnie is to stay away from AJ and if by Tenn must be watched by one of us, AJ you don't count yet." I said and he nods.

"You're gonna watch me like a hawk?" She asked.

"I've gone days without sleep, don't test me." I said to her.

"Ok any other rules?" Ruby asked.

"….. if she tries anything…. To anyone here…. And I'm not around…. Shoot her." I said and looked at AJ.

"Only if it's serious you understand AJ?" I asked and he nods. I know I'd have to explain it more to him later on tonight.

"I know you guys aren't going to like this at all, but trust me…. It's for the best in my opinion, you can talk to me about it if you want to, so please…. Just talk to me." I said and they all nodded and I looked at Minnie then back to Violet and she began walking to the gate so I followed her.

"You shouldn't give her another chance Clem." She says.

"I know your opinion on this Vi but I've already told you my reason… well one of them, so please for me, drop this until it's a concern that needs to be dealt with."

"It does need to be dealt with, you say there's a gash on your back now, and let me guess she fucking watched them do this to you, didn't she?"

"Yes but let's be honest here if You were in her position would you have jumped and attacked Lilly while she was doing that to me?" I asked.

"I would have done something instead of nothing." She says.

"Vi, I know….. let's drop it ok? Let's just think about what you and I have planned for tonight." I said and she looks at me and I look at her and smile a bit.

"Stargazing with my girlfriend sounds really good right now….. and we could relax a bit." I said.

"I'll work on something for you to get up on the….. on the bell tower." She says and I smile at her gently and I kiss her cheek and she turns a bit red and I smirk.

"Oooh getting embarrassed now are we?" I asked.

"I'm fine…. Anyway, uh… food situation, we need to get some fish later today and Aasim and Louis will go check the traps." She said and I smiled at her and patted her back."You're a great leader Vi."

"Honestly, you'd be a better leader…. Let's both be leaders, that way one of us doesn't get to stressed out….. plus we can both deal with the bullshit and complain to each other about it." She says and I nod.

"Alright, we can do that." I said and I turned to see AJ talking with Willy a bit.

"He's a good kid Clem…. You raised that boy right." She says.

"Sometimes I fear I raised him wrong, I'm just going by what I saw and what I think could be better but…. Sometimes he'd question me a lot about my choices." I said and I walked over to him.

"Clem, look at what I found." He said and showed me a book.

"A book?" I asked and he nods real fast.

"Aasim said it was a history book." He said and I grabbed it gently and remembered Lee.

"Hmmm if only I knew enough history, all I know is that Christopher Columbus sailed to America." I said.

"Hmmm you might want to catch up on your schooling Clem." Violet said and I looked at her as she smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Hey I was in the first grade when all this started." I said and handed the book back to AJ.

"Oh damn you're pretty young than." She said.

"Hmmm if I'm right…. I'm sixteen now….. probably seventeen with it being fall weather right now." I said and we walked a bit. My stomach started to hurt a bit but I didn't show it, I couldn't show it. It would worry Violet more and more.

"You…. You wanna come fishing with me, it might not be the hard work you want but…. It's something right?" Violet asked and I nodded.

"Alright we can go whenever you're ready." I said and she nods a bit.

"In a few…. Clem." She says.

"Yea?"

"I…never mind I'll tell you later." She says and I look to her and I nod. I go and grab what I need and both me and her along with AJ walked to the fishing shack and I look around a bit and see that old truck.

"You know….. I could fix up that truck if I had the right parts." I said.

"Really?" Violet asked and I nodded.

"I might not have been great in school but Kenny….. Kenny taught me how to fix up vehicles even when I was eight….. I just wanted to know how to do it." I said as we walked past it.

"There's and old Howe's store a few miles out north from here, they should have the tools and there's a town so, parts we could try to find." She says and I nod a bit.

"Howe's… didn't we live in one for a while?" AJ asked and I looked at him and nodded.

"Back when Kenny and Jane we're still alive and arguing…. That's how I got this tattoo as well, pretty badass if I do say so myself." I said and looked at AJ's name on my hand.

"Badass indeed." Violet said.

"Kenny didn't like the fact that Jane gave me a tattoo but I begged for it, and I was twelve so I could make my own choices." I said and chuckled a bit.

"And when we had those nights where we all just…. Got along…. It was so peaceful….. so…. Calming and happy, we'd joke and joke and I'd make funny faces at goofball over there." I said as AJ ran ahead of us.

"But then….. Jane hung herself….. I found her in carvers old office just….. swinging and trying to grab at things cause she was a walker….. and Kenny…… he got pissed, started saying Jane was weak and all this bullshit as if he knew her." I said as we walked more, Violet just listening.

"Do you know why she did it?" She asked and I nodded.

"She found out she was pregnant….. she already said she didn't want to bring a child into this world and we didn't have the right supplies to…. Terminate the pregnancy….. she didn't tell us…. She just….. went quietly." I said.

"What about Kenny?" She asked.

"He died a few months later when he was teaching me to drive a manual car….. Something happened to the tires or something and the car spun out of control and then bam….. he flew out the window and….. couldn't feel anything…. It's my fault he died….. I heard him as I ran with AJ." I said and closed my eye remembering that day. Then I opened it.

"Clem it… it wasn't your fault." She said and I nod. But she's wrong, it was my fault he died.

"If only they could see me now…. I wonder what they would think of me." I said.

"They'd probably comment on how much you've grown." She says and I chuckle.

"Ah or make fun of me for wearing my hat…. But I got Kenny back for that." I said and she chuckles.

"Never make fun of the hat, noted, now just never make fun of my jacket and we're even." She said and pulled at her best jacket a bit.

"I'd miss times like these."

"…. Yea anyone would."

"Yea." I said as we got to the shack and AJ had grabbed the spears and we went to our places. Me and violet talked for a while while catching fish, AJ would catch a few and bring them over then run back. It was nice.

"We should head back now, it's getting dark." Violet said and I nodded as I grabbed the bucket and she looked at me.

"It's not that heavy." I said and she nods and goes and gets AJ. As we walk back I look around me a bit, at the trees and everything I could till we got to the school, the same time as Louis and Aasim.

"Well looks like we got here just in time." Louis said and I nodded as we all went in.


	10. Relaxation

(Violets Pov)

I watched as Clementine walked with AJ, Louis and Aasim over to Omar as he got things ready for dinner. I watched her carefully.

"She's fine Violet, trust me she's gonna have to come to me everyday to make sure she hadn't opened her wounds." I heard Ruby say and I turned to look at her.

"Knowing her she's probably going to be annoyed by it all." I said and she nodded.

"Well she's a tough one, stubborn but tough, looks like you got a lot of work to do." She says and I chuckle.

"I wouldn't change her…" I said as I watched her play with AJ a bit. She's actually acting like a kid.

"Hey Vi, can we talk?" I heard and turned again and glared at Minnie and ruby walks off but she still watches us.

"What for?"

"Just…. Let me explain."

"Let you explain why you hurt Clementine?"

"Jesus why is she so important to you hu?" She asked and I kept quiet as I glared at her.

"Because she doesn't deserve what happened to her…… because she wouldn't join your stupid fucking war, you kidnap her and let her get opened up, you did this to her I don't care if you didn't do it physically you still didn't do anything to help her." I said and glared at her.

"She brought it on herself."

"No she didn't, you're fucking lucky to be alive she didn't have to save your ass but she did, so you best better stay on her good side and mine because the second you fuck up, you're out of here with nothing." I said sternly and she looks at me.

"You've changed Vi."

"Damn right I have." I said and went over to Clementine. I stood next to her as AJ talked about how there was music at our party.

"Violet said it was like Louis in a box." He said and I chuckled as I rubbed his head and he looked at me.

"I did say that hu?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yep, and Ruby was doing this one dance and Violet did it too." He said trying to copy it.

"Violet, square dancing?" Clementine asked and I smiled a bit at her.

"It's not my style."

"Oh and head banging is?" She asked and I shook my head.

"Nope…." I said.

"Do you like dancing?" AJ said and I nodded.

"I um…. I like slow dancing." I admitted and I rubbed my neck.

"Aww that's just adorable." Ruby said and I turned red.

"Yea, yea." I mumbled and felt Clementine lean on me a bit.

"You ok? Do you need to sit?" I asked.

"No I'm good…. So slow dancing hu?" She asked and I nodded.

"Ballroom dancing too….. when I wasn't watching cartoons with my grandma I'd watch ballroom dancing with her…. It was nice."

"Mind teaching me?" She asks and I look at her and nod.

"Y-Yea I can teach you…. I'm a bit rusty." I said.

"Well we can make it up as we go too." She says and I nod again. We sat down by the stairs and I watched AJ play with Rosie a bit and I got up and chased him around showing him how to play tag, then Ruby joined in along with Louis, Tenn, and Aasim. We ran around the courtyard a bit and everyone was laughing as we ran away from AJ, of course I'd let him tag me and I'd go after the others for him too.

"Clem wanna join?" He asked as he ran to her out of breath and I came next to her and sat as I panted a bit.

"I think that would strain my stitches a bit, but once I'm better we can." She says and AJ looks at me and taps me then runs off and I chuckle as I get back up. But not before Clem grabs my hand and pulls me down to her and kisses me. I kiss her back gently and cup her cheek a bit and smile at her and she smiles back at me.

"Can't catch me Violet." AJ calls out and I chuckle a bit as I go after him once more. By the time we were done Omar called for dinner time and we all went to the tables. Tenn went to eat with his sister while everyone else sat at the big table. I sat in between Clementine and AJ and we ate our soups and talked with everyone.

"So before all this, what did you like to do?" Louis asked as he passed out his cards to us older kids.

"Well…. I loved to play in my treehouse." She said and I looked at her. I grabbed her hand gently and rubbed my thumb on the back of her hand.

"Do you ever miss your home?" AJ asked her and I watched her.

"Always bud…. Actually I'd like to go back one day, see how things are." She says as she flips her card winning all of ours.

"It's probably a community by now so someone's living in there." Aasim said and I glared at him.

"Yea… you're probably right…. But it would be nice to go back." She says as she sets the cards in a stack.

"Yea… bet you got lots of pictures to show Vi." Ruby says.

"Pictures, videos, you name it I've got that." She says.

"What was the last thing you did before you know." Louis asked her and she closed her eye and breathed in a bit.

"If I remember correctly…. I was looking at my treehouse and I saw the door to it open up a bit, so I went and got Sandra my babysitter and told her to record it, we go out and what comes out that door? A baby raccoon." She says and smiles as she opens her eye.

"I wanted to climb up and pet it." She says and I chuckle a bit.

"I can actually see you doing that." I said and she shoved me lightly.

"Anyway, Sandra was telling my parents about the raccoon and she told me they wanted to talk to me, so I grabbed the phone but I was way to preoccupied with wanting to watch the raccoon…. I was a bit rude to them when I wanted to watch the animal, and Sandra scolded me a bit for talking to my mom like I did." She says and rubs her head.

"Though I think my mother would be scolding me right now with how much I swear, and near AJ too, god she'd have a field day telling me 'Clementine that was a swear you don't say that near kids or at all.' And now that I think about it, it's funny." She says and smiles as we flip our cards. Ruby won so she took the cards.

"Did you ever swear when you were younger?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, when we were at the dairy farm I said the word shit…. But I thought that since Lee said it I could too…. Katjaa wasn't to fond of that but she didn't say anything about it." She says and we flip our cards and this time I win.

"Oh man I use to swear a lot when I got here." I said as I grabbed the cards.

"Use to carve them too, didn't you carve on the diplomas or something?" Ruby asked and I laughed.

"Doctoring in fine ass." I said.

"So you were the one to write that." Clem said and I laughed some more and nodded.

"Yep, no one was going to be using them so might as well make a joke out of it." I said as we flipped the cards.

"Haven't heard a good joke in a while…. Well Jane tried to tell me one but I didn't understand it till now, and no I will not be repeating that joke." She says as Louis was opening his mouth.

"Aww come on."

"Nope, it's a disturbing one and I want it gone from my memory." She says and I chuckled a bit and looked at her.

"So what else did you do as a kid?" Aasim asked as he grabbed the cards since he has the highest one.

"Use to read a lot of books, my favorite involved these kids that live in a boxcar and then later they found out they had a rich grandfather or something." She says and I nod.

"The boxcar children?" I asked and she nods.

"I'm surprised you knew that Vi." Louis said and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I used to read that book a lot when I was in school…. Before I got sent here." I said and Clem looks at me and holds her other hand on top of ours and I look at her and smile a bit.

"Blah, love birds." Louis said and I flipped him off.

"Ooh kinky."

"Shut the hell up dude." I said and he raised his hands up in defeat and we continue to play the game. Not long after everyone started to head to bed except for Aasim, Clementine and I but me and Clementine had taken AJ, Willy and Tenn to bed they wanted to have another sleepover and who was I to deny them that.

"Remember, you watch Clem tonight." AJ said and I nodded and looked up at Clem and she was looking at me a bit and I chuckled a bit.

"Yep and you watch her in the morning." I said and he nodded then I tucked him, Tenn and Willy in bed and both me and Clem left to room.

"So you're on Clementine duty?" She asked and I nodded.

"AJ's just worried about you, you know it." I said and she nodded and we stopped in the hall and she looks at me.

"So who's watching Minnie?" She asked.

"Aasim has first shift and then it's my turn." I said and she looks at me.

"You're not going to hurt her?" She asked and I looked at her.

"Not unless I have to." I said and she nods.

"I'm fine with that." She says and I kiss her gently and she looks at me and I smile at her.

"You're very beautiful." I tell her and she looks at me.

"You are too." She says and I chuckle.

"Oh really?" I asked and she nods and kisses me and I kiss her back.

"You should head to be if you're gonna be on watch." She says and I nod as I take her to my room.

"Maybe uh…. Maybe tomorrow we can have our date? Since you know." I said and she nods as I open the door.

"I can wait, not in any rush." She says and I smiled at her as I locked the door and helped her into the bed and I got in with her and I rubbed the back of her head as she laid her head on my chest. We both began to fall asleep to the sounds of crickets.


	11. Into Town We Go

(Violets Pov)

I woke up to some soft tapping on my door so I slowly got up and saw that it was still dark out. I got off the bed as I moved Clementine off of me gently. She grabs my pillow again and I smile as I kiss her head gently and head to the door and open it to see Aasim.

"Sorry." He said.

"No it's fine can you watch Minnie so I can get AJ?" I asked and he nods as I go out to AJ's room and I open the door and I see him awake already.

"Hey buddy wanna help me out?" I asked quietly so Tenn and Willy didn't wake up and he looks at me and nods as he comes over.

"Help you with Minnie?" He asked and I thought a bit.

"Or would you like to watch Clem for me?" I asked and he looked a bit in thought.

"I'll help with Minnie, I'll still watch Clem during the day but." He tried to explain and I nod as I help him out his room and take him to where Aasim is.

"You good?" He asked and I nodded as he left to head to bed.

"What do we do?" He asked.

"Just watch, and if she's awake ask some questions I suppose." I said as we get in the room and we see here awake.

"You sleep at all?" I asked and she looks at me.

"Guess not." I mumbled.

"Why'd you bring the kid here?"

"His name is AJ and I asked him if he wanted to so here he is."

"You tell me what I'm doing is wrong yet you're gonna bring a kid in to watch me?" She asked.

"I trust him, besides as long as you don't try anything we're all good." I explained as I sat in the chair and looked at her and AJ sat on the empty bed.

"Besides you're training kids to die in war, he's just trying to protect his mom and family." I said.

"That girl gave birth to him?" She asked.

"That's his mother." I said and she glares at me.

"So you'd rather be with someone who has a kid?" She asked.

"Yea…. AJ's a great kid." I said and she laughed.

"I thought what I saw was a lie but I guess not."

"What did you see?" AJ asked.

"Your mom being a wh-" She tried to say but I stoped her.

"She isn't and don't you dare say anything bad about Clementine, you don't know the shit she's been through." I said and glared at her.

"She has a kid with some random guy and now you're dating her this is bullshit." She said.

"I never said she gave birth to him, just that AJ is her son." I said and she looks at me.

"And it shouldn't matter weather she had or not been AJ's biological parent he is her son either way, she's taken care of him for years." I said and he looks at me.

"So what are you his mom now too?" She asked pissed.

"If he wants me to be sure, if not that's fine I can be a friend." I said and she looks at me.

"You've gotten soft."

"So what?" I didn't care if I've gotten soft, only thing is, if you mess with my people I won't tolerate that shit.

"I wanted to leave your ass on that boat, I wanted you dead after the shit you pulled, I'm willing to kick you out if you so much as look at Clem or AJ funny, I'll even hurt you myself if you so much as lay a finger on them." I threatened and she looks at me.

"You forgot everything we've done together, how you and I were together." She says.

"Marlon fucked that up for you, he said you and Sophie died, and I mourned for you guys for a fucking year, when Clem came I was done mourning for you, after I saw you I knew I was done and I have Clementine now, and it's my job to keep her and AJ safe, if you have an issue with that, I don't give a damn." I tell her and she looks at me. It was a few hours before my shift was over, we didn't talk anymore just kept quiet until we took her out to get some food. I don't see Clementine and I look around a bit.

"Ruby is checking on her." Louis said and I nod. As long as she's with someone I'm fine.

"Louis you'll be watching Minnie, after my shift and then it's Ruby ok?" I asked and he nodded.

"Roger dodger." He said.

"Who's dodger?" AJ asked and I rubbed his head.

"It's just a saying that's all." I explained and he nods. I see Clementine and Ruby come out the building, Clem having a new bandage on her eye and I go over to her and AJ follows.

"Hey you good?" I asked and she kisses me and I smile.

"We need to get more peroxide and bandages later on." Ruby says and I nod.

"Ok, add that to the list." I said and Clem nods. We all sit to eat breakfast and I hold Clementines hand and look at her a bit.

"We gonna go into the town?" She asked and I nod.

"Yea we're gonna have to." I said and she nods again and we eat in silence and I rub her hand gently. It's become a habit to do this with her and I'm not complaining.

"Y'all gonna head in today?" Ruby asked and I nodded.

"Yea if Clem is up for it." I said and she nods.

"Yes please." She says and I nod and kiss her cheek gently.

"Who else is going?" Omar asked.

"It'll just be me and Clem." I said and they look at us.

"Just be safe." Ruby says and I nod. We finish breakfast and I grab our bags a bit and smile as Clem put hers on and looks at me and I chuckle as we head out. AJ runs up to us though.

"Can I come?" He asked.

"Hmm how about this, you keep look-out for the school while me and Clem check the town, just to make sure is safe for you ok?" I said as I got to his level.

"Ok but take this." He says and hands me his revolver and I look at him.

"Keep Clementine safe and leave the last one for yourself." He says and I nod as I get up and rub his head a bit and walk next to Clementine. We walk for a bit and I hold her hand for a while as we walk.

"What did AJ mean save the last bullet for myself?" I asked as I looked at her and she just looked forward.

"Clem?" I asked.

"I… it's just…. Just in case you don't want to turn." She says and I nod understanding what she means.

"Ok, sorry." I said.

"Don't be…. You'll question a lot of things I taught him." She says as we walk.

"I have no right to do so though, I never left Ericsson I didn't go through everything you have." I said and I lifted her hand up to me and kissed it.

"But still…. I still have no idea what I'm doing."

"No one does, we're still learning it's been years Yea but no one is an expert in this world, I mean hell no one knows why we even come back from the dead just to….. kill others who are trying to survive." I said and she looks at me.

"I've seen some people with some crazy theory's…. be it a virus made by the military that went wrong, or doctors were trying to kill off the sick and weak….. that alone pissed me off." She says.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"My mother was a doctor…. She'd never hurt a soul yet they want to blame all the doctors for this bullshit, they are the most important people we need in this world right now." She says and I look down a bit.

"I.. I'm sorry I didn't know." I said.

"I didn't mean to blow up it's just…. It's my moms work she saved lives she didn't ruin them." She says and I nod.

"I never knew what my mom worked as, she had three jobs at once and my dad well… he was a drunk old bastard." I said.

"I never got to know your story." She says and I look at her.

"I was sent to Ericsson's because my grandma shot herself in front of me, and I didn't call for help or anything….. I know it sounds bad but…. She missed my grandpa and…. Just… pulled the trigger on herself…. That's why I'm not much of a gun person too." I say and she looks at me.

"This is going to sound bad but, guns help to, not that bows and arrows don't but… they help too." She says.

"Well I can't shoot for shit anyway." I say as I hand her the gun. She stops and looks at me and I stop too.

"I could teach you." She offers and I look at her for a bit and I feel the wind blow a bit.

"I…." I tried to say something and I look at her and she kisses my cheek gently.

"It's ok if you don't want to, but if you ever want to, the offer still stands." She says and I close my eyes and nod.

"Ok…. You can teach me…. And the others." I said and she nods.

"Let's hope there's some guns in town." She says as we keep walking. It took us about a few hours to get to the Howe's shop I looked over in the car section a bit and found a few parts here and there. Clem would talk about the parts and I would nod and put them in my bag so we'd have them for later.

"That Kenny guy sure taught you a lot." I said.

"Yep, had to, especially with AJ growing up, better safe than sorry." She says and we look around more. I found a few water bottles and handed Clem a few for her bag and I look at her as she looks around.

"Looks so different than the one I lived in." She says as she walks around a bit and I follow her.

"Well no one thought to live here so."

"That's true." She says and I put my hand on her shoulder and she heads up some stairs and we get into an office and I look around a bit. Then I hear some music playing softly and I quickly turn around and see Clementine step back from the radio a bit shocked from the music playing.

"That…. That's just on a timer." I said and she nods as we both agreed that that's all it was and I watch her. The music is soft toned and it sounds familiar.

"I was a quick wet boy

Diving too deep for coins

All of your straight blind eyes

Wide on my plastic toys." I heard and I came up to Clementine and tapped her shoulder gently and she turns to look at me and I offered my hand to her, if she wanted to take it. And she does.

"Then when the cops closed the fair

I cut my long baby hair

Stole me a dog eared map

And called for you everywhere." We slowly danced a bit I had my hands on her hips and we breathed slowly as we moved to the music more and we placed our foreheads together and I smiled a bit.

"Have I found you?

Flightless bird, jealous, weeping

Or lost you?

American mouth

Big bill looming." I sang a bit of the song, remembering that my grandma had played it a few times. I use to love it as a kid too.

"Now I'm a fat house cat

Cursing my sore blunt tongue

Watching the warm poison rats

Curl through the wide white fence cracks

Pissing on magazine photos

Those fishing lures thrown in the cold and clean

Blood of Christ mountain stream." I heard as we danced a little more and we both laughed a bit. I mean hell we're dancing in an old abandoned store while the dead could be on us at any moment. Yet here we are just dancing like nothing matter.

"Have I found you?

Flightless bird, brown hair bleeding

Or lost you?

American mouth

Big bill, stuck going down." The song died off and I looked at her as she smiles at me.

"That was really nice." She says and I smile at her and kiss her gently.

"We should uh… keep looking." I said but she kisses me again and again. Didn't I say she was addicting before?

"Sorry." She says.

"No need to be." I said and we laughed a bit and I kissed her gently and we left the building and I saw a few walkers walking in the streets.

"I got them." I said and pointed my arrow at the one and I saw Clem aim her gun but I stopped her.

"Don't it'll draw more of them out." I said as I placed my hand on the gun to lower it and I think as I grab her from behind and place her hand on the bow and I help her pull the arrow back on the string.

"Keep a steady hand like you would on your gun, breath a bit before you take the shot, and as always aim for the head, use your finger as a bit of a guid." I tried explaining and I move from behind her and watch as she takes the shot hitting the walker right in the head. I smile and pat her on the back a bit and chuckle.

"Amazing shot for your first try." I said and she nods and tries again on the other walker and I watch as she hits this one and it went right through it's eye.

"Bullseye." I said and she smiles.

"Best thing about these is that you can reuse them when you can get them." I said as I walk up to the walkers and grab the arrows.

"Alright that's pretty good use." She says and examines the bow a bit and I smile.

"You can have that one, I've got another one back home." I say and she looks at me and hands it to me.

"Just till we get back." She says and I nod as we walk more. We finally reach the town and it's starting to get dark out and I curse a bit that we'd have to travel at night.

"Look a motel, we can spend the night in there if we have to." She says and I look at the motel a bit and we start walking to one of the buildings. It's an old weapons shop.

"Well it seems we just got lucky." I said as I looked at AJ's gun from her and went behind the counter and grabbed a few bullets and placed them in the chambers. I grabbed a few boxes that were laying around and placed them in my bag and I looked at Clem who grabbed a few guns and a rifle.

"You ever shoot one of those?" I asked.

"Yea, they have one hell of a kick, fell flat on my ass when I shot one for the first time." She says and looks at it and finds a few bullets and I helped her. I looked around a bit and grabbed a few arrows and looked at the shop more. Couldn't find anything else to grab and we both headed out and I looked through the cars a bit and saw some items here and there but nothing we could really use.

"Maybe one of these will start up." I heard her say as she opened the door to one of the cars and I got in the passenger side a bit and looked at her.

"If you could find the key that is." I said and we looked around. We couldn't find anything so we went to the next car and then the next and the next and the next but couldn't find anything.

"Damn it." She mumbled and I rub her back a bit as we just go look for more supplies. We didn't find any more items to take and the sky was just turning dark and I rubbed my neck.

"Alright let's head to the motel and rest up, eat something." I said and she nods as we headed back to the motel. We got inside one of the rooms and I made sure to barricade the door as best as I could and Clem helped as I moved the entertainment center against the door.

"I'm surprised we didn't get much walker activity today." I said as we set up the small heater and I got a little pot and warmed up some of Omar's stew he gave us for the trip.

"Hm probably cause we went in quiet. If I shot the gun walkers would have come out of hiding…." She says and I see her face change a bit.

"Something on your mind?" I asked as I handed her the cup of stew and she held it with both hands and I made me a cup.

"I remember that Lee and Kenny were talking about the last time they ran into Macon to Lee's family drug store…. Said something about a woman who was screaming and…Kenny was complaining saying 'well we would have gotten more supplies if Lee here didn't screw up.' And it made me a bit sick." She says and I look at her.

"What did he mean by screw up?" I asked a bit cautious.

"…. Apparently Kenny was mad that Lee shot the girl… dead were coming at her and she was screaming for help and I heard something about the woman being bit…. And Kenny wanted to keep her alive…. To be eaten alive so walkers would just come out of hiding." She says.

"That's sick."

"I know but…. At that time I didn't think he realized it because it wasn't his own family." She says and I shake my head a bit and pull the cup off the heat and turn it off.

"I'm sorry I just….. I couldn't do that, leave someone to be eaten alive just so I could have a little more time to grab a few more items…. But that's because I don't want the same thing to happen to me." I said as we eat a bit of our food.


	12. A Nights Chat

(Violets Pov)

I looked over to the window a bit as we ate more of the food and I grabbed the water bottle for us and I sat next to her. She leaned her head on my shoulder and looked at her a bit and kissed her head.

"My favorite season is summer." I said randomly and I felt her head shift a bit.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Summer time is when I'd get to play outside…. My grandpa…. Before he passed away… he would have these barbecues almost all the time, and I'd help him at the grill, or I'd help grandma with the other foods… we play around and shoot fireworks in the streets, when other kids were around we'd shoot them at each other." I said and chuckled a bit.

"Sounds fun." I heard and looked down at her.

"I need to check your wounds." I say and she looks at me.

"I've got them."

"You sure? I don't think you can get the one on your back." I say and she looks at me.

"I've got it." She says and I nod a bit.

"At least let me get a look at your eye." I said and she nods a bit as I grab the peroxide and a clean rag. She set her food down and I moved the bandages slowly off her eye. She grabs my hand a bit and I look at her.

"I um." She tries to say but I kiss her gently and look at her.

"You ok?" I asked. I moved the bandage more and looked at it. Her eye was a bit inward and foggy, and there was a large cut going down from the bridge of her nose, across and down to her cheekbone.

"Ok this is gonna hurt." I said and she nodded as I put some peroxide on the rag and gently dabbed at the wounds.

"Fuck." She mumbled and hissed in pain.

"Sorry." I said as I pulled the rag back.

"It's ok." She says and I grab some new bandages and wrapped them on her head and she looks at me.

"Gotta find an eye patch." She says and I nod.

"Hey you'll be a pirate than." I joked and she laughed.

"Arrr." She says and I laughed a bit and looked at her.

"Clem…. I'm sorry for not saving you when the raiders came… I just." I tried to say but she kissed me.

"You were busy helping AJ that night, I saw you keep that raider away from him, I don't care if you didn't help me that night so long as AJ was safe that's all that matters to me." She says and I look at her.

"But."

"No buts about it, the raiders are gone, no more left you guys took care of that." She said and I looked at her.

"Why did you save her? Why didn't you let her get blown up?" I asked.

"Think about Tenn."

"She fucking hurt you."

"So what? Try and change her."

"There's nothing to change about her Clementine." I tell her.

"There is."

"There isn't she is gone she will never go back, if you heard what she said about you."

"Who cares what she said about me? It's just fucking words." She says and I look at her.

"I care, she has no right to say anything bad about you at all, you saved her ass, you kept her alive and all she's gonna do is treat you like you're garbage? Fuck that." I said and she grabbed my face and made me look at her and I do look at her.

"She hurt you, she did this to you." I said and pointed at her eye.

"She let them do this to you." I said and pulled at her shirt but not lifting it up.

"And yet, you still saved her, you keep me from kicking her ass out, you keep me from punching her right in her face or doing the same thing to her that she did to you." I said.

"Vi, I know this…. I know this." She says and places her hand on the back of my head as we touch our foreheads together.

"I know this ok? I've lived with this, I've seen people try to change others and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but…. She'll probably do it just to stay with her brother." She says and I look at her a bit.

"I've told you that that's part of the reason…. But I'm just thinking like Lee… he wanted redemption for what he had done before the dead were walking and so he was a nice man to all, gave people chances, gave Lilly a god damn chance and all I ask…. All I ask is that you let me try, let me try to get Minnie to see that what the raiders did was bad, so that she could see her brother." She says and I look at her more.

"She doesn't deserve it." I say.

"Yes she does…. You thought she was dead for a year, you finally got her back."

"I have you, not her, I'm done mourning her, when you came I was done with her…. She hurt you, what if she hurts AJ too?" I asked.

"She won't."

"And if she does…. If she does Clementine I won't hesitate to kill her…. I know this makes me look like the bad guy but if she hurts that boy… or anyone else especially you." I said and she looks at me.

"Vi listen to me, you know you won't kill her for something as small as that."

"Watch me… she's already blinded you in one eye, she's let them cut you open like a fucking animal and god knows what happened to your back…. I don't care what you think on this but I will not let her think she's gonna get away with what she's done."

"Vi, killing a living person is different from a walker, I've done it and I regret it everyday…. I was almost like Minnie, I thought the new frontier was a home I could have but after what they did to me and AJ I changed, I knew they were bad after that and I changed so I could get AJ."

"That's the thing you have AJ l, you looked after him and everything…. She killed her own damn sister, blood, family… she doesn't care about Tenn at that point."

"I know why you think that, please understand why I think the way I do."

"Why? you want some redemption for what?" I asked and backed away and stood up.

"What did you do that was so bad hu? You protected that boy, you helped us, you fucking busted your ass to help defend our home, you've done so many good things you've redeemed yourself in ten lifetimes." I said and rubbed my face a bit.

"Tell me Clem what did you do that was so bad in your life that you think you have to save her sorry ass just to have a clear conscience?" I asked.

"I let Lee die…. I didn't shoot him, I lied about doing that to him ok?... he fucking turned and I don't know if he felt it, I keep telling AJ to, to shoot me if I ever get bit but, but that's not fair to Lee… he told me to run but I stayed and I could have shot him so he wouldn't be a walker killing innocent people now." She says and I look at her.

"You're doing this because you couldn't shoot Lee?" I asked.

"And other things… I saw Ben trading our medicine to the raiders but didn't say anything I didn't know till it was to late and, I ran ahead while duck got bit, I got Carly shot because I didn't speak up about the medicine, Lilly…. all of it is my fault, and telling the stranger on my radio about everything it's my fucking fault, Lee got bit cause of me, people died because of me." She says and I look at her more.

"Clem."

"I just…. I just want to do the best I can for others before something happens to me, if she can't change you make that call but I'm still gonna tell you to keep her there because you and I know Tenn will be sad if she goes away again, and I don't want to see that boy sad just like you don't want to see AJ sad or even hurt." She says and I try to speak but I don't. Not yet.

"I'm sorry Violet… it's a shitty thing to do to you and the others but you know it's true, and what if she does change, you guys can be a family again, you'll have Minnie back, she could sing for you guys… AJ told me that you said she sings for you guys…. Wouldn't that be nice?" She asked and I cup her cheek gently. She looks like she wants to cry.

"You were just a child at the time Clem, I don't judge you for anything you did or didn't do, you redeemed yourself over and over again by staying alive and keeping AJ alive and saving us… one day you can go back to Lee and… and do what you need to do but right now you're alive and here." I told her.

"I've already told you how I felt on Minnie and you won't change my mind on that, not after what she's done, you can forgive all you want but I won't I'm sorry."

"What if it was me?" She asked.

"You're different."

"If you were with me after all I've said would you still forgive me?"

"Of course I would."

"No you wouldn't, if you traveled with me you wouldn't cause you can't forgive Minnie."

"You didn't do what she did."

"Yea I did worse." She says and I look at her and I wipe the sweat off my face a bit.

"You didn't torcher people did you?" I asked.

"When I was getting AJ I did, I killed people to get him I let people suffer for being a part of the group that had him even when they begged to die." She says and I look at her.

"If you can forgive me, you should forgive Minnie…. So what if I lost sight in my eye? I can still see you, I can still hold you, I can still work with you…. I'm breathing, I'm talking, I'm alive…. And so is she." She says and I rub my neck a bit and look at her more.

"Y-you had reasons."

"So did she."

"So let's just drop this." She says as she hold my face again.

"Please let's just drop this." She says and I sigh a bit as I kiss her gently and she kisses me back. I looked at her and places my hands on her hips a bit and she kisses me again. I pull away and look at her and she kisses my cheek and rubs her thumb against my cheek a bit.

"It's a bit hot in here hu?" I asked and she laughed a bit as I nod.

"Bet I smell like rotting garbage." I said and she nods and I chuckle some more.

"Yea but who has time for a bath these days." She says and I look at her and think.

"There could be running water here."

"Doubt it." She says and kisses my cheek gently and I sigh a bit.

"We need to get you more bandages and medicine." I say and she looks at me and I kiss her a bit and pulled away.

"We will…. If we find an eyepatch that'd make things easier." She said and I smiled a bit.

"Yea…. Come on let's head to bed, we'll look more in the morning and head back home." I said and she nods as we go and lay on the bed and I look at the ceiling a bit as she places her head on my chest and I rub the back of her head gently.


	13. A Sick Day

(Violets Pov)

-Three Weeks Later-

I looked at Clementine as she shivered a bit in the bed, she was running a bit of a fever and I was next to our bed as I wiped her head gently with a wet rag.

"You shouldn't have played in the rain." I said and she laughed a bit then covered her mouth as she coughed.

"It was fun though…. How you and AJ aren't sick is making me question some things." She says and I look at her.

"Well we didn't stay in the rain as long as you did, Ms. Crazy Woman." I said and she smiles a bit.

"Aww it wasn't that long…. Besides it felt good, like a shower." She says and I nod a bit as I clean her up a bit.

"A freezing cold shower, it was almost sleet by the time you came back in."

"Worth it." She mumbled as she starts to fall asleep. I watch her a bit and place the rag on her head and place another blanket on her so she stays warm at least. It started to snow today so the cold wasn't going to help her at all. I shook my head a bit as I left the room and went to see Omar cooking some soup in the big fireplace, we had built a few weeks back.

"She asleep?" He asked and I nodded.

"She's still cold though gotta keep a closer eye on her." I said and he nodded.

"Well some soup should help, making it how my grandma did, perked me right up." He said and I nodded.

"You need anything from the greenhouse?" I asked.

"Ruby got what we needed." He said and I nodded. We were able to patch some holes in the school so the flames from the fire place could heat up the room a bit. I heard some footsteps and saw AJ coming in with some wood with Louis, Tenn and even Minnie.

"Hey how's Clem?" Louis asked.

"She's doing fine, still sick but better than yesterday." I said and he nodded.

"Course she's gonna be sick for a while she was playing in freezing rain." Minnie said as she placed the wood to the side of the fire place.

"Yea well can you fucking blame her? She never got to play much as a kid." I said and she rolled her eyes at me.

"She played in freezing rain She should have known by now that, that's a death sentence, we don't have much medicine." She said.

"She won't even take the medication." I heard and looked at Ruby as she came over to us.

"So, if you're gonna tell me that she's wasting medical supplies, I'll call you out on that one." Ruby said as she handed Omar some things.

"Clem's been sick before when I was younger, she was scared." I heard AJ say and I looked at him as he drew a bit and I sat next to him.

"Yea being sick and with a kid around is scary." I said to him and he nods. I watch him color with Tenn a bit and we talk just small chat like what he liked about disco broccoli and I told him about old cartoons I use to watch.

"The cat would try and use dynamite to get the mouse?" He asked confused and I chuckled a bit.

"Yea it sounds silly and weird but that was how it was back then, and it was made before I was born too." I said and he nods a bit.

"I should check on Clementine." He said and I stopped him.

"I'll do it, we don't need you getting sick." I said and he nods a bit. I feel bad that he can't be near Clementine but we just don't want him catching a cold. So I got up and headed back up to our room and opened the door and I saw Clementine standing up a bit.

"Woah there what are you doing?" I asked as I came up to her.

"I… felt like… throwing up but." She mumbled a bit and I sat her back on the bed and looked at her.

"If Ruby gives you some medicine will you take it?" I asked and she shook her head no.

"Why not?"

"You need to save it." She mumbles and puts her head on my shoulder and I rub her back.

"We have enough, we're gonna go into town later on and get some more." I said and she shook her head.

"To cold."

"I know, we're gonna get some jackets too, and if I can, find a big blanket for ya." I say and she breaths in a bit.

"Hmm, fuck this apocalypse." She says and I chuckle a bit. I know it's not funny but, I couldn't help it.

"Sorry." I say.

"It's fine… got you to laugh." She says and I lay her back on the bed.

"How about this, if you feel a bit better, you and I can go down to the music room, we can all eat Omar's soup, and you can take the medicine and feel even better." I said. It was like explaining it to a child but I mean we still are kids, well she is.

"Fine…. But AJ can't come to close to me… I don't want him sick again." She says and I nod.

"I know but if he does we'll help him get better, we're not like those assholes." I said and she nods a bit and shivers and I cover her up again and she looks at me.

"Summers gonna be a bitch."

"Oh?"

"Yea, with all that pollen, fucking sucks when I have to be quiet but I also have to sneeze." She says and I nod a bit.

"Can you lay with me? You're warm." She says.

"Well you are too."

"No, I'm cold." She says and I nod as she moves over a bit and I lay next to her, I'm not going under the covers but she seems fine with that. She places her head on my arm and holds my other hand. I rub her head gently since it helps her sleep better.

"I have a question." She says.

"I might have an answer."

"What…. What's the one thing you'd change if you could? Like right now?" She asked. I thought for a bit.

"Well everyone says that they'd make walkers disappear so that's just a boring thing to keep repeating." I say and she chuckles a bit.

"Hmm ok this is going to sound stupid but I'd change the schools name." I said.

"Oh?" She asked and I look down at her.

"Yep, fuck that guy Ericsson such a dumb thing, but I don't know what to call it…. You got any ideas?" I asked.

"Hah, happy sunshine land." She says.

"Oh god no that's even worse." I tell her and she laughs a bit more.

"Welcome to happy sunshine land and here's Mayor Violet." She says and I couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"No how about something cooler, something that's awesome." I suggest.

"Hmmm The rotting Shithole?" She asked and we both laugh.

"I could deal with that, but we might have more options." I said and she thinks a bit.

"What would you call it?" She asked and I thought.

"Texas."

"You can't name it Texas." She says and I look at her.

"Fine Texas Two, the better Texas." I said and she looks at me.

"We're you from Texas?" She asked and I nod.

"Yep, born there lived there till I got sent here." I said and she rubs my arm a bit.

"What about…. Castle Violet?" She asked.

"You can't name it after me."

"You're better than Ericsson though." She says and I look at her.

"Castle Violet and Clementine." I said and she smiles a bit.

"Can't name it after me." She says.

"Honestly you're better, you're a bad ass girl who went through hell and back for her boy, you've done more shit than I ever could…. we should just name it Castle Clementine." I said.

"But it's your school."

"And I say we name it after you Ms. Badass." I tell her and she looks at me.

"You're not saying that just cause we're, together right?" She asked.

"Eh part of it but you are a badass, I mean you raised a kid in this world, you got battle scars from hell but that's what shows that you survived shit that most people couldn't…. you also have a kind heart…. Even if I don't like that you saved Minnie and all, I'm…. I'm glad you of all people still have compassion, even though people screwed you over so many times." I say and I feel something wet hit my arm and look to see her crying and I wipe the tears away.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Don't be."

"You of all people deserve a break…..when we were voting to keep you here or to send you off…. Aasim Tenn and I wanted you to stay….. I kept telling them that you rocked your ass to help us when you didn't have to… you could have left and Marlon would have traded us off too, you helped us get food at the train station, you knew what the hell you were doing to survive and helped us kill walkers even though you had a god damn head injury….. but that didn't sway them." I said and she looks at me.

"You looked so tired when you came to the room." She said and I looked down.

"I tried so hard to keep you here and yet I failed…. Shit I'm surprised you even liked me even though I couldn't keep you here and…. I took you past the safe zone and the things I said." I explained.

"Well at least you weren't like Louis and saying "hey this is like a second home to you." I know he regrets it but it still hurt to hear that…. As if it was just a common thing to say." She says.

"That was a dick move on his part, we lived in walls for eight years you didn't, you…. You didn't really have a home….. I told Louis off when we left you guys…. And then when we heard the gun shot…. I thought." I tried to say but I didn't want to.

"You thought I took myself out?" She asked. I nodded a bit and I looked away.

"No…. I mean many thing were running through my head like if you just found a bunch of walkers or there's people near here and all that….. so, I ran to you."

"Thanks, by the way." She says and I nodded.

"Then Mitch asking who made me leader, no one else decided to take that spot, Louis couldn't, Tenn and Willy are too young, and no one else wanted to take it…. I tried to be a good leader but…. I don't think I did a good job when you guys got taken."

"It happens Vi, besides at least it isn't like you just gave us up, you were helping AJ." She said.

"But still."

"Well you can blame me too, cause I got caught."

"No that…. I don't mean it like that." I said and she nods.

"Vi, bad things will happen I mean, I lost AJ, I've seen groups fall apart and everything, trust me it happens." She says and I nod a bit and I rubbed her head a bit.

"You should sleep now darling." I said and she chuckles a bit.

"Why?" she asked.

"So you can get better."

"What if I don't want to?" She asked.

"Then we can't kiss, or go on small dates." I said naming a few things.

"Fine." She says and comes up closer to me and I keep rubbing her head. I looked down at her and she falls asleep and I keep rubbing her head some more and then I see the door open and Ruby is walking in.

"Hey." She says quietly and I nod to her and she comes over to look at Clementine.

"How's she doing?" she asked.

"Fine, she just fell asleep not to long ago." I answered and she nods.

"want me to bring her soup up here?" she asked.

"I will when she wakes up, that way it's still warm for her." I said as she took Clem's temperature.

"Alright, but she needs to eat ok, no complaining from her." She says and I nod a bit as she grabs the thermometer and nods as she leaves and I just look at Clementine a bit and I feel like a creep at that point so I look away. My eyes start to get heavy and I just shut them a bit.

"Vi…..Viol…..Violet." I heard and I woke up slowly and turned to see Clementine looking at me and I rub my face a bit.

"Hm? You ok?" I asked and she looks at me and nods a bit and I look at her.

"You hungry?" I asked and she nods a bit.

"You feel like you can go down there or?" I asked.

"I can uh… I can go down." She says and I nod as I get up and I help her up and wrapped the blanket around her and I look at her as she lays her head on my chest.

"Not my fault if you get sick." She mumbles and I laughed.

"Oh I don't care, I'll take your sickness away."

"Too fucking cheesy." She mumbles and I nod as I help her down to get some food.

"Clem." We hear as we leave the room and I look down to see AJ.

"Hey Goofball." She says and I look at them a bit.

"You doing good?" he asked.

"Yep, Violet is helping me." She says and we all head down the stairs and we get our food and me and Clem go sit away from the kids a bit but enough to be able to join in the conversations.

"So how you feeling?" Ruby asked.

"Better, not as bad as yesterday." She says and I nod a bit and Ruby hands her some medication. She doesn't want to take it, I see it on her face as she looks up at Ruby then me and sighs as she takes it.

"Why do you hate medicine?" Ruby asked.

"It's not that I hate it, it's just why waste it." She says.

"Not really a waste, you're not feeling good, plus it's supposed to keep you from throwing up the food." Ruby said and Clementine nods.

"Hmm, never really had a need for it either, well other than when I got bit by that dog or lost my finger but…. That was different, this is just a cold."

"A cold that's kicking your ass." I said and she shoves me.

"I can still fight you." She says and I nod.

"Yea… Yea you can." I said and she ate a bit of the food here and there. I made sure she ate all of it and she leans her head on my shoulder and I touch her forehead a bit.

"Hmm, you're cozy." She mumbles to me and I nod.

"I suppose I am, since you keep laying on me." I joked and she nods and she curls up more in the blanket. We keep her a bit close to the fire and make sure she doesn't burn herself and I rub her head softly. She falls asleep and I just keep rubbing her head.

"You know she hasn't had nightmares since you've been doing that." AJ says and I look at him.

"I'm glad… as long as she can get some shut eye, I'll do this every night." I say and look down at her as she moves into me closer and I smile a bit.

"I'm glad she has you." He says as he sits next to me.

"Oh? Is that so?" I asked.

"Yea, she's really happy, she smiles more, she feels at home." He says and I nod.

"Do you feel at home here?" I asked and he nods.

"Yea, you guys are awesome." He says and I chuckle a bit.

"Why thanks, I'll be sure everyone knows that." I tell him and he nods.

"I'm sorry, for what I did."

"You didn't do anything wrong." I tell him.

"I shot Marlon."

"He was waving a gun around at us…. We don't know what he was capable of even if he did give up like he said he would… I was a bit upset yea but I know you guys had it worse out there… where people would lie about giving up and then stab you in the back… people did that even before walkers roamed around." I said and he looks at me a bit and I rub my neck a bit.

"They did?" he asked and I nodded.

"Oh yea… people lied, cheat, steal, all sorts of things." I said.

"So, they were bad people?" he asked and I nodded.

"Even if they went to jail some would still act the same, my dad did at least, got drunk would hurt people, he drove with me while he was drunk too." I said as I looked at the wall a bit.

"He wasn't always bad but… I think after I was born, he just…. I don't know."

"Did he not love you?"

"He did, he just… couldn't express it as much as Clementine does with you… it's hard for me to explain cause I don't know what my dad was thinking." I tried to explain to him and he looks at me.

"You know Clementine loves you." He says.

"Oh?"

"Yea when she was working with me on fishing she just randomly said, 'I love Violet.' And I…. I asked if you'd be a new mom to me…. Cause of what Minnie said when you and I talked to her that day." He says and I look at him.

"What did Clementine say when you asked that question?"

"She said that if you wanted to, you could be, but she'd understand if you didn't want to." He said and I breathed a bit and I rubbed his head.

"I wouldn't mind… I wouldn't mind at all." I said and he lays his head on me and I just watch over the both of them.


	14. Friend or Foe?

(Violets Pov)

-5 Months Later-

Clementine, AJ and I were down at the fishing hole trying to catch tonight's dinner. I was wearing a green short sleeved shirt that buttoned up a bit and I still wore my pants and boots, all Clem did was just take off her jacket and her shirt was tan. You could see the scars she had and it just made her look even cooler. I then decided to "accidentally" splash Clementine with some water and she looks at me and smirks.

"Asshole."

"You love me." I say and she kisses me.

"Damn right I do." She says and I laugh a bit as I fished some more. It was hot out and I was starting to get a bit of a tan going, Clem seems to like it but damn I have to burn first to keep it.

"Mom, Clem look I caught one." AJ yells as he runs up to us with another fish and I smirk as I rub his head.

"Great job AJ, I think you win." I said and he smiles as I give him some candy that I found on my last run into town.

"Thanks." He says and puts it away, I know he's going to share it with Tenn and Louis.

"Anytime, kiddo." I said and rubbed his head a bit and he laughed and I look at Clem who leaned on the spear a bit as she watched us.

"So adorable." She says and I turn a bit red.

"Yea well-." I tried to say something but she cut me off with another kiss.

"So Omar is gonna try something new with dinner." I said as we put the spears away in the cabin.

"Oh?" AJ asked and I nodded.

"Yea, since we got that grill he's gonna use that to cook the fish." I said and explained to him about how it all works and what's good to use for it.

"You sure know a lot about this grill." He said as we walked to the school.

"Oh yea my grandpa and dad taught me a lot, when it came to grilling, it was the only time we had fun… my entire family would go to my grandparents house and we had these barbecues, it was fun." I said and Clem looks at me. I look at her and and smile a bit as we get closer to the gates and Willy let's us in. Once in, I hand Omar the bucket and then Clem, Louis, and I go look at the map.

"We saw some people by our hunting grounds, they didn't get the deer though." Louis says and I nod.

"Keep a close eye on that… you didn't see anyone?" I asked and he looked at me.

"A woman with red hair and two other males one black and one white." Aasim says as he comes over and I nod and look at Clem.

"Where exactly did you see them?" She asked and Aasim pointed to the traps closer to where the safe zone use to end.

"I'm… I'm gonna go check that area out, make sure they aren't camping near us." She says as she looks at the map again.

"I'll come with." I said and she nods.

"I'm bringing the rifle." She says and Aasim hands it to her and she straps it to herself and I look at her a bit.

"We can head out in a few, grab a bag and your gun too." She says and I nod as I tap the gun on my side and she nods as she looks at the map again.

"Are we in danger?" Minnie asked.

"Don't know but I'm not taking any chances. Watch Tenn and AJ while were gone though." I said. I can trust her with AJ since a few month back she helped him when walkers were near the school, but I still stand on kicking her out if she pulls anything. She nods at me and I go and get mine and Clem's bags and I hand hers to her and she puts some water canteens in it.

"Ok, we might be out for a few days, we're gonna check all around here, and the river, make sure they didn't take our canoes or anything in them." Clem explains and I nod.

"Alright." I said and we both headed out, but not before AJ and Tenn gave us each a hug and I looked at AJ.

"Keep Clem safe." He said and I nodded and he looked at Clem.

"Keep mom safe." He says and she nods and we head out and wave to the others. We walked a pretty good distance in the hunting grounds I checked the traps to make sure they weren't tampered with. So far none of them have but we can't be to careful.

"How's your eye?" I asked.

"It's good, glad we found that eye patch hu?" She asked as she looked at me and smiled.

"Yea… makes you look more like a badass." I said and she shoves me lightly and I chuckle a bit.

"So, gotta Keep AJ's mom safe hu?" She asked and I smiled a bit.

"I don't mind that he calls me that though." I said and she holds my hand.

"He looks up to you, you know that." She says and I nod a bit.

"Yea…. I'm trying to be good for him… he's a good kid." I said and she nods and holds my hand a bit tighter.

"I'm glad he has others to look up to… to teach him…. To guide him." She says and I lift our hands up and kiss hers.

"We'd do anything to help you guys." I said.

"I know…. I know you guys would… and that makes me happy." She says and I smile at her.

"You know… the offer still stands." I said and she looked at me and smiles a bit.

"I know… and I love you… but let's wait a little bit longer." She says and I nod. I'll give her all the time in the world. I heard a twig snap and I look around and place my hand on my gun and Clem grabs her rifle.

"D-don't shoot." I heard and looked to see a red headed woman come out from behind the trees and I watch her.

"Where are the others you were with?" I asked.

"There are no others."

"Lies, Tell us now or a bullet goes in your head." Clem says and I watch the woman.

"….. come out." She says and out comes the other two pointing their guns on us and I pull my gun out a bit.

"Clem?" The big black man says as he lowers his gun.

"You know them?" I asked and she just looks at them.

"Tell Arvo to drop the gun or I shoot." She says and I watch the boy with glasses glare at her and I watched him carefully.

"Arvo… drop it." The man says and Arvo looks at the man then glares and set the rifle on the ground and I look at them.

"Clem is that you?" The woman asked.

"Shut up." Clem says.

"Clem."

"I SAID SHUT IT!" She yells and they flinch a bit.

"Clem…. Who are these people?" I asked.

"…. Remember when I told y'all I got shot when I was eleven." She says so calmly and I nod a bit. Scared that she was so calm.

"Yea." I answered as I watched the people.

"Fucking Russkie over there shot me with a rifle… right in my shoulder….. over something I didn't even do….. and yet he's still alive." She says and tilts her head a bit.

"Should have let Kenny kill him but no….. I thought Arvo would have joined us to live but….. no…. he shoots a kid that caught him." She says.

"She stole medicine from me."

"You're a god damn liar and you fucking know it, we were on the tower and Jane wanted to take medicine but no I was to fucking kind and said we didn't need it, his sister was fucking dying…. She was well, when they ambushed us, and she died in the shoot out… and she was going after AJ as a walker." She says and I look at her.

"Little Girl is a liar."

"You are." I said and pointed my gun at him, and he glares at me.

"God Clem what happened to you?" The woman asked.

"I fucking grew up Bonnie now shut up drop your guns and kick them over before I shoot." She says and they do as told. I grab the weapons from them.

"Try anything stupid." Clem says and I looked at her a bit.

"What happened to AJ?" Bonnie asked.

"He's dead…. Because of you." She says and I look at her a bit. She wanted to see their reactions. Bonnie and Mike looked sadden a bit but Arvo didn't show anything.

"God Clem we didn't."

"Shut up…. You didn't care then, why care now?... I'll give you credit Bonnie you did want to help, but you still left." Clem said.

"Clem."

"Shut it Mike." Clem says.

"Turn around, Hands behind your back." I said and they did as told and I grabbed the zip ties and "cuffed" their hands behind their back. We began walking back to the school and I kept my gun on them.

"What happened to your eye?" Bonnie asked.

"Stabbed by raiders." She says keeping her gun on Arvo more.

"God." Bonnie says.

"When?" Mike asked.

"Five months, hard to keep track, but here's the fun part, all those raiders are dead…. Bunch of kids killed grown ass adults with military training…. Ain't that fascinating?" She asked. They didn't answer.

"That's just telling you what our group is capable of…. If you decide to screw up." She says and we get to the gates of the school and we let them in.

"Who are these people?" Ruby asked in a low voice.

"Clem knows them but tell everyone to keep their weapons on them in case they try something." I said to her and she nodded to tell the others and we put the three in the basement and I watched Clementine as she looked at them.

"You know…. I give people a chance to redeem themselves." She said to them.

"And you can, and we can let you go on your merry way…." She says.

"Fuck you." Arvo says and she smiles… a mad smile and takes her pistol and wacks him hard with it and I pull her back and she looks at me then at the three. Then she crouches down in front of him.

"Funny thing is Arvo…. When you shot me…. You missed, you should have aimed for my head…. Not my shoulder…. Did it feel good to shoot a child?" She asked and lifted his head up with the gun and her eyes open up a bit more with a questionable look.

"It did, didn't it?... made you feel… powerful?" She asked. He didn't answer.

"I could do the same to you… and we could be even…." She says and I pull her back and she looks at me a bit and then heads out the basement and I follow her.

"Clem, Clem talk to me now." I said and pulled her to look at me.

"Clem."

"Don't…. not now." She says and pulls away from me and heads out to the courtyard. I looked at the basement and rubbed my head a bit and slicked my hair back and sighed.

"Do not tend to their wounds." I said as Ruby came up to me.

"But."

"Please…. Don't…. I said so." I told her and she nods a bit and we go to the courtyard.

"Clem there's more people here?" AJ asked and I watched them.

"Yea…. Yea people who were with us when you were little… one of them is a very bad man." She says.

"Do we?" He asked.

"No… you stay away from them." I told him and he looked at me.

"But."

"Stay away from them… ok?" I asked and he nods.

"Ok mom." He said and went to play with Tenn and I rubbed my face a bit.

"They staying?" Aasim asked.

"….. don't know if they have more people but we can hold them here….hostages I guess." Clem says.

"We don't keep hostages." Omar said.

"These people deserve what they get coming, especially the fucking Russkie in there."

"What did they do?"

"The Russkie shot me in the shoulder, and the other two went with him."

"Why you calling him a Russkie?" AJ asked.

"It's what Kenny called him…. Just leave it at that, and you don't say that word you understand me." She tells AJ and he nods.

"Yes Clem." He said.

"I'm sorry I just…… sorry." She says and walks off. AJ tried to follow her but I stop him.

"Let her have a breather ok? She's just upset that's all." I explained and he nods a bit and looks up at me.

"Is she going to be ok?" He asked.

"I hope so… just give her time." I tell him and he nods and goes over to Willy who was on watch again. An hour passes and I see Clem go to the graveyard and I go follow her and I see her standing at the grave we made for Lee.

"Clem?" I asked and she looks at me and then at the grave and I stand next to her. She breaths in a bit and and then lets it out as she rubs her face.

"Is it sad that I'm asking a grave marker for advice?" She asked and I looked at her.

"No…. not really." I say and look at the marker.

"When I sleep…. I'm with Lee on the train…. And he's still teaching me…. It's calming in a way…. Even if it's my mind making it all up." She says and I pull her to me in a hug. I rub her back gently and she puts her head to my neck and I feel her breath.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted in front of you" She says.

"Don't be… you have history with them, I mean look at what I'm doing to Minnie, what I said all those months ago." I said.

"Still." She says and I sway her a bit and kissed her head gently.

"I told everyone to keep their weapons on them and to be careful of the three." I told her and she nods a bit and I put my hand on her head. She pulls back a bit and looks at the grave.

"I think Lee would have liked you." She says.

"Is that so?" I asked and she nods.

"Oh yea." She says and looks at me and I kiss her gently.

"I'd like him too." I said and she smiles and places her head on my chest. My heart races a bit and I hold her hands a bit and I look at the flowers growing behind her.

"What are your favorite flowers?" I asked.

"Violets." She says and I chuckle.

"Really?" I asked and she nods.

"I think they're pretty…. And you're the prettiest violet I've seen." She says and we both laughed and I kiss her. She kisses back and places her hands on my face and I hold her hips.

"Feel better? AJ's worried." I said and she nods a bit.

"Yea… yea I'm fine." She says and I nod as I hold her hands again.


	15. Will You?

(Violets Pov)

I took Clem to the tables and we all ate our dinner and talked a bit. I saw Clem go to the cellar with some food for the new people and I looked at AJ who was showing me a drawing.

"And that right there is you." He says and points to his drawing and I smile a bit.

"We'll hang it up in your room after dinner." I said.

"Actually you can keep it." He says as he hands it to me. It was a drawing of me and Clem together fishing by the river.

"Tenn said he's gonna teach me how to draw eyes." He says and I smile as I see Tenn's drawing.

"That's really good buddy." I said and then I heard a bang and got up quickly drawing my gun along with everyone else. I looked at them as they looked at me.

"That was a gunshot." Omar said and I nodded and ran to get Clem from the cellar. Once down I see Clementine pointing the gun with smoke coming out of it and I ran to her and look at the three and saw that Arvo guy shot in the shoulder. I look at Clem and grabbed her gun from her and she looked at me.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"She shoot me." The boy said in some broken English and I looked at her. She didn't deny it or say she did. She just stared at him.

"Was he coming at you?" I asked and she just looked at him.

"No he wasn't." Bonnie said and I looked at them then at Clem.

"Clementine was he coming at you?" I asked again and she looked at me and then back at him and backed up a bit.

"Clem."

"Tell her the truth god damn it." The man Mike says. But Clem says nothing and just walks out.

"She's fucking crazy." Arvo says.

"Keep your god damn mouth shut be lucky we didn't shoot your asses in the woods, Clem brought you guys here so don't you dare order us around." I said as I glared at them and left the cellar and locked it up and looked for Clementine. I found her an hour later in our spot looking up at the stars.

"Clem talk to me." I said but she says nothing, so I sit next to her and look at her. She lays down her feet over the edge and back is on the roof floor hat off her head.

"Clem." I say again and she looks at me then back at the star and point up and makes a shape.

"Looks like a heart don't it?" She asked and I looked up and found where she was pointing at.

"Clem please don't." I said and she shrugs.

"Yea looks more like a potato." She says and drops her hand on her abdomen and breaths in a bit. She stays quiet for a long time and I just can't take it.

"Was he going after you?" I asked once more. She still says nothing.

"God damn it answer me." I tell her and she looks at me.

"No."

"No you won't answer me or no he wasn't going after you?" I asked.

"Interpretation." She says and I look at her.

"What?"

"What do you think I did." She says and I look at her.

"Clem."

"Wasn't a bad thing to do."

"He didn't do anything to you at that point." I said. She sighs and sits up grabs her hat then looks at it a bit. She then gets up and walks to the side I follow her and she looks at the wall. I stand next to her and watch her a bit and I rub my neck a bit as I watch her.

"Lots of people screwed me over, over the years." She says and nods a bit and looks back at her hat then back up as she just holds it.

"We know that, you told us that Arvo shot you and that the other two left you." I said and she nods again and chuckles a bit. I don't see how this is funny to her, I really don't.

"Yep…. Shot a little girl trying to survive, trying to leave with all our supplies…. Food, water…. Food for AJ….. just cause they didn't like Kenny." She says and then looks at me.

"Bonnie lied to me and Walter and Kenny…. Walter a kind man, a teacher, a man who gave her supplies out of the kindness of his heart…. Wanna know what happened to him." She says more than asks. I don't respond.

"He was executed…. Right in front of me…. As he looked at a photo of him and Mathew, I know cause he turned his head just a bit to look at the photo next to him." She says and makes a gun with her hand and moves it back as if shooting herself in the head. I look at her a bit, sad, but I still listen to her.

"Because Bonnie told Carver where we were….. and if I didn't run up like I did, Alvin Juniors dad would have met the same fate." She says and stands up tall.

"Things happen for a reason Violet, bad things happen more in this world." She says and I look right at her.

"Arvo just got to have a taste of what I felt when he shot me….. now he can redeem himself, but I highly doubt he will."

"So what you're just gonna keep shooting at him? That's sick." I said.

"Not sick really, think of it as a learning method, you get punished for your actions, karma so to speak." She says and moves her hands a bit.

"I could have stabbed him, could have wacked him a few times, but shooting felt more appropriate at the time."

"So if we fuck up in any way that you think that we wronged you, you'd shoot us? You'd shoot me?" I asked.

"No see that's the difference, you helped me, you helped AJ, he looks up to you guys, you've redeemed yourselves already, you didn't have to though since you didn't have anything to redeem yourself for." She says and I rub my head at this.

"You can't do that Clem, if he was coming after you, fine shooting him would have been ok I think, but he was just sitting there." I said.

"Hm….. I don't regret what I did." She says.

"Look…. You're not allowed to go talk to them anymore ok? You can't go near them, nothing, you stay away from them." I told her and she looked at me.

"I'm not going to listen to that, you can't order me around."

"I can and I will, if you're just gonna fucking shoot them, Yea he did bad I want to hurt him when you told me he hurt you, god I really do but…. That's not how we do things here Clementine and you know that, you're acting like that fucking Carver guy." I said.

"You're acting like Lilly." I said. I know it was a low blow but god I hate seeing her like this. She licks her lips a bit and turns her head to the side and looks at the wall.

Did I kill anyone?" She asked.

"No."

"Then I'm not Carver." She says. Then looks at me.

"Did I damage him to the point to where he's not able to see, walk or defend himself?" She asked.

"I… I don't know you shot him in the damn shoulder."

"No….. I was able to lift my shoulder, he'll live and he can survive if I threw him out there right now." She says and points to the woods.

"So, you'll shoot me in the shoulder?" I asked.

"No I wouldn't, never, even if you did me wrong I couldn't."

"What about everyone else?" I asked.

"No, you guys are my family."

"Now think about it like this, would you want the sam shit you just did to happen to us?" I asked.

"No."

"Then don't fucking do it to others." I tell her and she laughs.

"You think people give a damn if I didn't hurt their family? They'd still go after you, AJ, Tennessee, everyone, fucking hell, Carlos had his fingers broken and all he did was follow Luke on leaving Carvers camp…. People out there don't care." She says and closes her eye and breaths a bit.

"You're either living or you're not. You ain't little, you ain't a girl, you ain't a boy, you ain't strong or smart, you're alive." She says and I watch her.

"….. This world is so fucked up Violet…. If you had been with me you'd know."

"Clem I just…. Please just stay way from them from now on." I say and she looks at me then places her cap on my head. She smiles a bit at me and I want to smile back but I can't, not if she doesn't promise me.

"Can't promise that." She says and then leaves off the bell tower and I sigh as I follow her.

"I patched the boy up." Ruby said and I nod a bit. But Clementine, god she doesn't look happy, I can feel it too which makes it worse.

"Don't waste meds on him next time." Clem says.

"Clementine." She says and I look at them both as Clem stops and looks at Ruby.

"He can live with a god damn gunshot wound in the shoulder, no medicine is needed, boo fucking hoo if it hurts." She says.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing is wrong with me, just….. don't give him medicine next time." She says and I watch her walk away and I look at Ruby a bit.

"Seriously what's going on why the hell did she shoot him?" She asked.

"I don't know, I asked and asked, and all she told me was interpretation, and all this other stuff…. I think she's mad cause I said she was acting like that Carver guy and worse, Lilly." I said as Clementine went into the school. I sighed again and looked at Ruby as I placed my hands on my hip to think a bit.

"Try to keep Clementine away from them, if she keeps trying you yell for me." I tell ruby and she nods and I go explain the rest to the others that she is not allowed near those people not until I can talk some god damn sense into her.

"Clem's not a bad person." I hear and look down at AJ.

"I know I just."

"If Clem shot him she has her reasons." He said.

"I know but right now it's more out of anger than it is out of protection…. Can you try to keep watch on the cellar when you're on your shift?" I asked him. I didn't want to ask him to do this but maybe AJ could try and keep her away.

"You think they have more people?" Louis asked.

"I don't know, I'll ask but after what Clem did I don't think they will…. Fucking hell." I muttered as I looked to the cellar doors then at the school. I'll try again. I head into the school and head up to our room and open the door but she's not in there, I go and head to my office and that's where I see Clementine with a bottle of whisky that she found a few week back in the town, and a pack of cigarettes, one lit cigarette in her mouth. She was by the window and turned her head to face me then back at the window.

"You know I hate it when you smoke." I say as I go sit in my chair.

"Sorry." She mumbled as she inhaled it a bit and held out the bottle to me.

"Want some?" She asked, not turning her head to face me.

"I'm good."

"Hm…. Gotta fix that balcony." She says and I look at the broken railing.

"It's fine."

"It'll give me something to do." She says and I watch her as she moves the cigarette and takes a swig if the bottle. I watched as she moved the bottle away from her mouth and set it in her lap with her hand still holding it.

"Drinking doesn't help either." I tell her.

"Sorry." She says.

"Maybe you should put it up?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Nope… Sorry…. Don't worry I won't drink it all and get drunk like last time." She says and I rubbed my neck. I'm actually glad we aren't in the world like it was before. Clem would act like my dad at this point if she could get a constant flow of alcohol.

"You ever wonder where we would be if the walkers never showed up." She asked.

"I wouldn't be here that's for damn sure." I say and she chuckles a bit.

"Yea…. You'd be out in the real world…. Have a job…. Still be with Minnie." She says and I look at her.

"I'd still be in high school, far behind on my homework." She says.

"You wouldn't."

"I had a hard time learning in school, couldn't sit still for nothing, my attention span was that of a five year old, I would draw more than I would listen to some teacher talk about how to add or subtract." She says as she takes another drink.

"I would have never known." I tell her.

"Cause you would have never met me." She says and I scratch my cheek a bit.

"You don't know that."

"You ever wanted to go to Georgia once you left?" She asked.

"I wanted to travel a lot." I tell her.

"But to Georgia specifically?" She asked.

"I…. well no." I say and she raises her bottle up a bit.

"Then you would have never met me." She says and I sigh.

"Clem-."

"Did you ever want kids?" She asked out of the blue and I look at her.

"One day yea… never thought about it cause I'm still young." I say and she nods a bit.

"You'd be a good mom." She says.

"I'd probably be my mom… to busy working to be able to play with my kids." I say.

"You'd have help."

"Oh?"

"Yea…. You'd have a beautiful wife that would help you." She says and I watch her more.

"Well…. What about my offer?" I asked her and she breaths in a bit and blows out smoke from her mouth.

"I'm not to damaged to you?" She asked.

"No."

"Even after today?" She asked and looked at me. Her golden eyes glowing a bit in the dark and I nod.

"Even after today, I'd still want to be with you." I tell her and she looks down at the bottle.

"…. Can't have kids with me." She says.

"We have AJ, Tenn, and Willy to take care of." I tell her. She looks back out the window and I hear AJ laugh along with the others.

"Yea….Yea we do." She says and I get up and go over to her and I place my hand on her shoulder and she looks up at me.

"We might not be able to have kids, we probably would still be a couple of sinners in peoples eyes for fuck sake…. And we might have some thing going on in our heads that make us do things we will regret later on in life… hell were gonna have some fights here and there in this time, no ones going to be perfect…. But what I do know is that I want to be with you…. Not Minnie, not anyone else even if we find other people, I want to be with you…. We can live in this fucked up world together… hell we could move away." I say as I look at the schools courtyard.

"We could find a nice quiet place with open land, a nice White House with a white picket fence." I say and she chuckles.

"Rosie could run around a lot more… and the kids could run too." She says quietly.

"It's all I ever wanted for AJ…. Just a quiet place to be… a place where he could play and not have to worry about walkers so much." She says.

"Then lets do it… we find a nice place to stay for everyone, build up a fence or a wall, keep it secured and just grow old together….. help Ruby and Aasim take care of the little hellians they're gonna have." I joke and she laughed a bit and I move her so she faces me and I tower over her sitting form I take the cigarette out her mouth and snuff it out with my boot and she looks up at me a bit then down and I gently lift her head up with my hand and I kiss her gently, and then pull away as I move her hair back a bit.

"So…. Will you take my offer? Will you marry me?" I asked her.


	16. Plans For The Future

(Violets pov)

I watched her as she thought on my question. Would she marry me? Does she want to marry me? I mean we can't have a proper wedding and the people she knew were mostly gone except for AJ that is. I told her I would wait too and I will, if she's not ready now that's fine we have time.

"Do you remember when you asked me the first time?" She asked and I nodded. I was a god damn mess when I asked her, sweating a lot, a stuttering mess, everything. I chuckled a bit and nodded.

"Yea, I was stuttering a lot."

"Don't forget swearing, can't forget that too." She says and we both laugh a bit at that and I look at her.

"Yea now that I think about it, asking you to marry me while fishing didn't seem appropriate." I said and she laughed.

"You fell into the stream too, god it was adorable." She says and I turned a bit red and I looked out the window a bit then back at her.

"You still don't have to answer you know? You can answer when you feel like it." I say and she nods a bit and I hold my hands a bit and I get in my knees and I look at her.

"I…. yes I would love to marry you." She says and I smile a bit and I kiss her hand and I chuckle a bit.

"We can't tell the others yet, make it a surprise." I suggested and she nods and leans close to me and kisses me and I kiss her back.

"Now all I got to do is get you a ring." I said.

"Oh we don't need that."

"Come on, Louis is gonna make me get you one anyway, probably say something like 'people got to know you're together' or something like that." I said trying to mimic his voice and she chuckles a bit as she moves her hat off my head then places it to her left and leans her forehead against mine. I close my eyes a bit and I hear her breathing.

"Alright, we can go see if they have any in town, I think they would unless people looted them." She says and I nod as I kiss her hand gently. We just sat in silence for a bit and I got up slowly and made her move so I could sit behind her and she could lean her back against my chest. I hold her waist from behind as I lean my chin on her shoulder and she grabs her hat and looks at it a bit. I grab the alcohol and place it on the side after screwing the cap back on it and I hold her waist again.

"You know… Minnie is pretty good at sewing, maybe she could patch it up." I suggest and I watch her stroke one part of the hat a bit. It looked like a blood stain but I'm not to sure.

"I like it like this…. Basically shows all the hell its been through for the past…. God almost nine years." She says and I kiss her jaw gently.

"Yea…. You said it was your dads hat right?" I asked and she nods a bit.

"He said I could borrow it till he got back…. He was a good man." She says and I nod.

"Well he raised you." I said.

"Yea."

"I might not have liked my parents after I got sent here, especially my mom…. But I do wish I had something to remember them by…. Hell I can't remember what they look like." I said and closed my eyes to try and remember.

"I can't remember my parents voices…. I miss it when my mom use to sing me a lullaby she'd make up…. Helped me sleep when I was younger." She says and I look at her hands as they hold the cap more.

"You know, it's weird when I don't see you wearing that cap." I said and she chuckles.

"It's weird seeing you without that vest." She comments back and I smile.

"But the hat looks good on you." She says and turns a bit and places it on my head.

"If anything bad ever happens to me, and I'm not saying it's gonna happen anytime soon, but." She says and I watch her as she thinks a bit.

"I just want you to have it ok? Something to remember me by that's all…. Don't place it on my grave don't leave it there to be taken by some asshole." She says and as much as I want to say no I can't. All I do is nod.

"Well same goes for my vest." I tell her and she nods.

"I'll be sure to keep it safe." I tell her and she nods again and leans back on me and she looks to her right and out the window and points to the stars.

"Look the Big Dipper." She says and I point to another set of stars.

"There's our fish." I says and we both laugh.

"Oh the knife can't forget that." She says.

"Ah yes and your potato heart." I said and we both laugh more.

"The bird is there too." She says and I look at it.

"As much as I want to fly away like the birds…. I like staying here with you." I say.

"Same." She replies back and I grab her hand gently.

"So are you serious about leaving here one day?" She asked and I nodded.

"Of course I am, if you want to go anywhere I'd follow."

"If we could find a car it wouldn't take long to get to Georgia…. I want to show you where I grew up, where I went to school…. Everything." She says.

"Hey we could go to Texas too." I say.

"We're already in Texas Two." She says and I chuckle a bit.

"I mean my other home." I say and she nods.

"There's an old creek bed I use to go to a lot in the woods behind the trailer park, I would search for hours looking for arrow heads."

"If Lee was here he'd give you a history lesson on them and what they were used for." She says and I nod.

"Might come as a surprise for most people but I loved history a lot, along with government classes." I says and I feel her move to cover her mouth as she tried not to laugh and I smirked a bit.

"Oh yea laugh it up, you probably think I was the type of person who hates government related things." I said and she laughs a bit.

"Stick it to the man, hippie Violet." She says and I laugh with her.

"Hey well this hippie is a nerd when it comes to most things." I say and she moves her hands back to mine as she slowly strokes my right hand a bit.

"Like I said I mostly drew in class, Art was my favorite, along with music class, I hated singing though…. My mom wanted me to play the violin once but we settled on piano and my dad, well he taught me to play the guitar and got me in a few lessons." She says.

"I'd love to hear you play." I said.

"Hmm hope you like basic note playing cause that's all I was taught, I'm not like Louis." She says.

"He offered to teach you."

"I know but… I don't feel like playing anymore." She says and I nod a bit.

"It's understandable."

"He's been teaching AJ though, it's good that he can do these things, if we never got here he'd be messing with his pistol." She says and does the motion of opening and spinning the pistol chamber and closing it.

"He did that before we stopped at the train station." She says.

"I'm sorry I was rude to you when we first met."

"That's what made me fall for you…. You didn't take shit from no one." She says and I clear my throat a bit.

"You've made me soft."

"Oh the horror." She mocks and I smile as I kiss her neck.

"It's a good thing… change is good."

"Yea but you're still that bad ass girl I met, killing walkers with a meat cleaver and all."

"And you using a knife, pretty bad ass…. An A plus as Louis would say." I tell her and she sighs a bit.

"I don't think I ever thanked you properly for helping me that night." She says.

"Kisses are a good form of thanks." I said and she smiles and turns a bit and kisses me and I kiss her back. We pull back a bit and start kissing again and again. After a while and needing some air we pull away and she leans into me more.

"Sorry for… drinking and smoking." She says and I nod.

"It's fine, just don't want you hurting yourself." I tell her and she nods.

"You know what sounds good right now?" She asked.

"Hm?" I hummed out by her neck.

"Peaches." She says.

"That girl on the Can looks like you." I say and she groans a bit as I chuckle a bit.

"First Alvin, then Walter and now you guys, let it end."

"Never." I say and she sighs.

"I swear if I see a girl on something and she looks like you I'm gonna pick on you for it."

"Awww come on, it's cute, didn't know you were so famous." I tell her and I place one hand under her shirt. I can feel the scar that Lilly had left on her. God if I could bring her back to life I'd shoot her over and over again for what she did to Clementine.

"Ugly right?" She asked.

"Hmm scars are bad ass though, shows that you've been through hell to get them… as you can see I don't have many scars." I say and show her my other hand.

"What about missing limbs?" She asked.

"Those Just show how hard core you are." I say.

"Sucks though…. I can't imagine losing a huge chunk of me missing like a leg." She says and I rub her abdomen a bit.

"That would suck in this world…. Or going fully blind." I say as I move my head from her neck.

"Well least I didn't go fully blind…. Then I'd be useless to you guys."

"No you wouldn't."

"I would."

"No cause I'd still make you work with me, blind or not I'd make sure you could do thing just so you'd feel normal." I said and I feel her nod.

"Yea, or AJ would probably baby me, 'there's a chair there Clem, there's a rock there Clem, ok so this is what I drew for you'" She says.

"He loves you so much Clementine, he'd do anything to make you feel like your old self again, even if he has to help you he'd do it in a heart beat."

"I know." She says.

"But I've gotten so use to taking care of him, I wouldn't want him to take care of me."

"Well that just shows you raised him right, he's still got to learn some things here and there but you'll help him…. I'd help him too…. Been trying to but I feel like I don't explain things right for him." I say and close my eyes.

"Yea you taught him how to use a bow and arrow, gotta make him one." She says and I could hear the gears turning in her head as she thought things through.

"Gotta teach him how to work on cars if I could find one at least…. Just in case something does happen." She says.

"We'll find a car soon, then we can take a trip across the country." I say and she nods.

"If only I could fix and fly a plane."

"I can see you flying one…. Less crashes." I say and she giggles.

"Well pardon me." She jokes and I move my hand a bit more.

"Don't worry I can't drive worth shit."

"I'll teach you, it would have to be a manual though, not gonna find all cars that are automatic." She says. She told me that that's what Kenny taught her.

"I'd like that."

"The wind blowing in our hairs, the smell of the sea as we drive past the coast, the thrill of going as fast as we can." She lists off some thing.

"That sounds wonderful." I tell her. We stay silent for a bit and I feel her breathing get slow. I know she's falling asleep but I don't care, she's tired, I'd let her sleep in but she always wakes up to damn early. I rub her head gently to help her go to sleep faster. I don't know when exactly she finally falls asleep all I know is someone better not wake her up. I hear a bit of a tap at the door.

"Come on but be quiet." I say as soft and low as possible so not to wake her. I look to the door to see Ruby and AJ walking in quietly, I take my free hand and put it to my lips and point to Clem as they come in. They both nod and come closer to us.

"Those people say they don't have a group only themselves, we were able to get just that out of the Red head." AJ says and I nod as he looks at Clementine a bit and then at me.

"She's just tired." I say and he nods. I move as gently as I could so I could pick her up and lay her on the bed. I cover her up with the blanket and I see Rosie walk in and lay at the foot of the bed near Clementine. I know Rosie would keep her safe so I walked out with the other two so we could talk more.

"She let you wear her hat?" AJ asked and I touched the bill of the hat and nod to him.

"Just watching it for her." I say.

"I've never seen her without it." He says and I nod.

"It's kinda weird hu?" I asked as I removed my hand from the cap.

"Well no, she's let me wear it a few times when I asked, or to keep the sun off me." He says and I nod as we head to the courtyard.

"I mean they say they don't have a group but after what Clementine did I think they're willing to say anything to not get shot at." Louis says and I watch him.

"It was stupid." He says and I rub my face.

"We don't know how badly they screwed her over ok so let's just leave it alone for now and talk about the real issue, we can secure the wall more and we do have guns, if they have a group they'll come looking for them." I said as we looked at the map.

"We could set up traps here." AJ says as he points to the road.

"That way if someone does come by they'll be caught first." He suggests and I nod and mark that area with a blue pen on where the traps could go.

"Good thinking little dude." Louis praises him and I rub AJ's head a bit as he smiles. It took us about an hour or so to plan things out and I look at the map a bit more. I then hear the door to the school open and I see Clem. Damn I was hoping she'd sleep a bit longer.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty." Louis says and I roll my eyes.

"Loved that movie." She comments still tired.

"Hey maybe you should go back to sleep." I say and she shakes her head a bit.

"Can't…. did you guys know Rosie snores?" She asked and I smile a bit.

"Yea sometimes, anyway this is what we have planned out if those people have a group looking for them." Omar says and I show the map and she looks at it and nods a bit then grabs the pen from me and draws something else on there.

"What's that?" AJ asked.

"We can get some bells and stuff and make a basic alarm system in certain areas, so if we make one here." She says and points to the fishing area.

"We'd know that something is about ten minutes away or closer if they're running."

"Or here." Aasim says pointing to the hunting area.

"Yep…. Only problem is that animals would probably hit the wire and we would know till later." She says.

"We can work on it though." Ruby says and we all nod. I see Clem looking at the map more and then at the other maps we have from the library, it showed the entire state of Virginia.

"We should spread out more in the future though." She says and looks at the map more.

"We can mark areas where it could be to dangerous and safe areas too, just in case something does happen here and we can rebuild a new home… maybe make a bit bigger community." She starts talking to herself a bit more, I could see the gears turning again in her head.

"Maybe find an abandon wind turbine." She mutters.

"Do those things even work these days?" Aasim asked.

"So long as the keys still inside the turbine, if someone took it then no." She says.

"Didn't you say there was an old farm down this area." She asked Aasim as she pointed to the land mass marking it with the map when Aasim nods.

"Yea we took a trip there a few times for field trips if we were good, I don't think the people live there anymore." He says and she nods.

"I can check that area out tomorrow."

"That's about a six day trip by foot." He says.

"I can still check it out at least." She says.

"I'll come with." AJ says and she looks at him then at the map.

"Not this time kiddo, but what you could do." She says and marks off the train station.

"Is go with Louis over here and see if there are any supplies left over that we could use, maybe there's more hidden areas." She says and he nods. She's giving him a job to do and I know why.

"Me and Violet can head to the farm see if it's livable and keep that as a meet up area if we ever split up."

"There's an old hospital right here too." Ruby says pointing to the roads leading to it.

"That's good, bit it might be over run by walkers." She says.

"Heard a lot of people went to them once they got bit."

"Damn maybe it's not worth it." Ruby says.

"No it is, we are running low and maybe we can find some books to read up on." Clem says to herself more than to us.

"Ok so tomorrow Clem and I will start heading to the farm, AJ and Louis will check the train, the rest will stay here, when me and Clem are coming back we can go take a look at the hospital and grab what we can and bring it here, we can look around some more to see if there are any other places we can get supplies." I say and everyone nods.

"Stay safe, be alert and if we get back here and you guys are gone leave this mark." Clem says as she draws a circle with an arrow pointing up to the sky.

"That way we know you're heading out to the town and we can meet you there, if anything goes wrong before we get back." She says and we all nod.

"Seems like a plan." Omar says and I place my hand on Clementines shoulder and she kisses my cheek. Everyone began to head off to bed and I went to take my shift on lookout, and Clem stayed with me.


	17. On The Road

(Violets Pov)

I was looking at Clementine as she packed her bag and I placed my hand on her shoulder and kissed her cheek as she looks at me.

"This is gonna be a long ass trip." She says and I nod as I hug her and she hugs me back. I feel her kiss my head gently and I look at her.

"Alright let's get going, got your gun?" She asked and I nodded as I showed it to her.

"I'm gonna talk to them separately and see if their story is the same all around." She says and hands me her weapons.

"So I don't do anything rash, I'm not going to hurt them just talk I swear." She says and I nod a bit. She puts her hat on my head.

"Alright….. fine but AJ will be by you." I said and she nods a bit as she walks out and I finish packing up our things. It was about an hour before she came out with them tied up and blindfolded and Ruby was with her along with AJ. Ruby was carrying their bags and helping them put them on them and me and Clem began walking with them. About two hours pass before we stopped and Clem took the blindfolds and "cuffs" off the two and they fixed their bags.

"Untie him please." Bonnie said and Clem just looked at them.

"I'll get him." I say but before I could a shot rings out and I see Arvo fall to the ground and I look at Clementine with the gun in her hand and I hear Bonnie scream as she goes to the fallen boy.

"HE DIDN'T DO SHIT TO YOU!" Mike yells and I see him try to go to Clem but I raise my rifle at him and he stops.

"You can still take his bag." She says.

"Clem." I said and she looks at me and then back at Arvo.

"Smart thing to say to your group is that you were attacked by walkers ten miles past this river." She says and points to it.

"We don't have a group." She says.

"So Arvo lies, says he was going to get y'alls group and take them back to the school." She says and points her gun at Bonnie.

"Or you both lied." She says.

"Clem." I say.

"Don't interrupt me." She tells me.

"So you wanna know what Arvo told me?" She says more than asked.

"Said He was going to get your group and help bring them to the school, our home and kill all of us….. hell he even said some men would really like to have some of the blond and red head girls." She says and comes up to Bonnie my rifle still on Mike and I watch him as I hear Clem talk.

"Threatening to rape my girlfriend…. My wife….. for that matter, and AJ's Aunt….. doesn't seem like a wise thing to say to someone who shoots you in the shoulder with no remorse." She says as Bonnie looks at her with wide eyes as Clem crouches in front of her.

"Threatening to rape kids in general is not a wise thing to say when a couple of kids have your life in their hands." She says and points the gun at Bonnie.

"Either Arvo was lying and trying to act like the tough Russkie he thought he was, or you and Mike didn't let him in on your little secret of lying about not having a group at all." She says and I watch them.

"Now I'm gonna ask again….. do you have a group." She commanded more than asked.

"No I swear to god Clem we don't." Bonnie says and I watch her then Mike moved a bit and I looked back to him.

"So Arvo was lying just to act tough?" She asked.

"I don't know what was going through his head Clem but I swear we haven't had a group since Kenny and you, we didn't want to deal with more people, I learned that from what carver did, I swear we ain't got no one else." She says.

"I really want to believe that Bonnie I do…. So here's what's going to happen." Clem says and stands up.

"If you did lie about having a group, you're gonna tell them that Arvo died in a heard of walkers in the town that's about four hours away from here so…. By foot about nine miles give or take, and you two took cover in a building for two days till the noise died down." She says and grabs the bag off Arvo and hands it to Mike.

"That would be the smart thing to do…." She says and walks away and I watch them and I backed up a bit and went to Clem. It was about an hour later before I spoke.

"Did…. Did Arvo really say that?" I asked as I watched her keep walking. She didn't answer.

"Clementine?" I asked.

"He did say they didn't have a group." She says as she stops and looks at me.

"But he did talk about you and Ruby…. About what he was going to do if I untied him…. He said he would kill me first though…..then have some fun with you after he killed the others…. Along with my son…. My son." She says and comes up to me.

"I wasn't going to let him live after he said something like that Violet and I know he knew once he found out I wasn't going to let them just walk away from the school on their own." She says and looks me in the eye. Sweat dripping down from her face as the sun kept beating down on us. I take her hat off my head and I place it on her head and I cup her cheek gently with my free hand.

"You don't threaten my family…. You don't threat to violate my… my girlfriend or AJ's Aunt …. My sons life…. It's stupid." She says as I watch her more and I swallow a bit.

"You're not lying to me?" I asked and she nods.

"I'm not lying… AJ can vouch for that along with Ruby because she was with me when he said that." She says and I nod.

"I'll ask them when we get back… for now let's just get to that farm." I say as we walk. I keep my eye on her as we just walk.

"So…. You called me your wife." I say out of random.

"I did." She says and I look at her face.

"I like that." I say and she smiles a bit, just a small smile.

"Sounds right…. I mean."

"I know." I say as I look at the map. I just looks around as we got near the roads but we stayed in the woods to stay hidden if people did pass by.

"So you guys went to this farm why?" She asked as we walked.

"Was to show us what hard work is really like… how we shouldn't take things we have for granted either…. How we could sleep in while people got up at four in the morning to work…. God if they could see us now." I joked a bit.

"Yea… you either don't sleep for a few days or you get up earlier to take a shift." She says.

"Only field trip I took was to….. a pumpkin patch in October…. We got to take a pumpkin home too… take lots a pictures and have fun as much as kids can at one." She says.

"I loved my dads pumpkin pie when he use to make it… can't make it like he did though it never tasted the same." I said as we walked more.

"My parents were to busy to make pies… my mom would work on thanksgiving most of the time because people would get hurt…. It's always on holidays." She says as I take her hand in mine.

"My mom had three jobs, so she had to work a lot…. She'd come home tired a lot." I said as we walked more.

"I missed the days where we could just be kids." She says and I nod and then kiss her hand. I felt her hand shaking a bit so I stop her. I look at her a bit as as she looks down.

"Remember when we talked last night?" I asked and she nods.

"If we find a place for you and me… you can act like a kid… I won't judge you any less, god you were so young when this started you…you and AJ deserve it." I tell her and lift her head up to look at her eyes. Her beautiful golden eyes.

"You can run around with AJ… play tag, draw, color, fucking hell you can ask for damn cookies and milk and I'd do anything to get that for you." I say and she laughed a bit as she puts her head to my chest as I hug her.

"Can you even bake?" She asked and I laugh a bit.

"I might just mix up the sugar with salt for that comment." I tell her and she laughed again. We both laugh a bit and I hold her to me.

"Come on you big softy lets go a few more hours and find a place to camp." She says and I nod as we keep walking. We find a few walkers here and there and take them out, we find a cabin a few hours later and decided to use it as a resting place. I go to the door and place my ear against is and I don't hear anything but stay alert as Clem slowly opens the door and looks in.

"I'll check upstairs." I tell her and she nods as she goes and looks in the room next door and I head up the stairs. After a good amount of looking it seemed no one has lived here for a good long while, until I heard some footsteps above which confuses me a bit. I look up a bit more and see one of those doors that lead to an attic and I slowly open it as the ladder comes down. I go up the ladder slowly and look around a bit in the attic, as I get up I look around more and hear a gun click and I turn to look and see a little girl. She kinda looks like a small Clementine but a bit darker and less scars. Her eyes were brown not golden like Clem's too.

"Hello." She says and I nod.

"What's your name?" I asked and she kept quiet.

"Does your group live here?" I asked. I didn't want to stay somewhere, where others lived.

"No."

"Are you alone?" I asked and she nodded.

"How Old are you?"

"Six I think." She says.

"Who's the person down stairs?" She asked.

"My wife." I say.

"So… you like girls." She asked me and I nod.

"Yes… is your mom alive?" I asked.

"Don't know."

"How long you been in this cabin?" I asked.

"A week… I think." She says.

"Would you like to meet my wife?" I asked and she looks at me a bit then down at the attic door and then back at me.

"I can call for her if it makes you feel better." I ask and she nods a bit and I nod.

"Clementine, come up here…. And put your gun away." I call out and I hear footsteps come up fast and I see her pop her head from the door and she looks at the girl pointing her gun at me.

"Can you lower your gun?" I asked the girl and she looks at me and lowers it slowly but keeps her eye on me.

"I'm Violet, this is my wife Clementine." I introduce us as Clem comes up more and looks at the girl.

"Mary…. I'm Mary." She says quietly and I slide my bag off and she points her gun at me and I watch her.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." I tell her but she doesn't lower her gun. Smart kid. I slowly put my hand in the bag and I pull out some candy and hold it out to her.

"It's safe I promise you that." I tell her and she slowly takes it and looks at the candy a bit.

"Why are you so nice?" She asked and I saw Clem walk closer to me but not fast so not to scare the girl.

"Got two boys back home a bit older than you… and another one who's about your age…. We don't hurt kids." Clem says to her and bends down to her level.

"Where are your parents?" Clem asked.

"I don't know, my mom told me to stay here till she gets back." She says and I look at her.

"Mary can you tell us what she looks like?" Clem asked.

"She's dark skinned, like me but maybe a bit darker… um she has somewhat curly black hair, and brown eyes…. Her name is Christa." She says and I look at Clem who's looking at the girl more.

"Did she um…. Did she ever talk about her past?" Clem asked a bit and I watched the girl. She nods a bit.

"What has She said?" I asked as she sat down a bit and so did we. We didn't want to make her uncomfortable and she ate the candy a gave her and I gave Clementine some water.

"She said that she had a husband once."

"Was his name… was his name Omid?" Clem asked and the girl nodded and I saw Clem's eyes go wide.

"Did… did she talk about a little girl being with her in the beginning?" She asked.

"Yea… She has the same name as you too, she said she been looking for the girl for a while but." Mary said and smiles a bit, I see Clem smile a bit as she looked at me.

"How… did she say she would be back?" Clem asked, hope in her voice. Mary nods a bit and I watch Clem a bit as I rubbed her back.

"I don't know when though." She says and I nod.

"Well we can watch you till she gets back ok? I….I know Christa, your mom." Clem says and I watch Mary nod to her and we all head down the ladder. I watch the girl as she looks up at Clementine a bit.

"What happened to your eye?" She asked and I see Clem smile down at her a bit. God she warmed up to this little girl fast.

"Some bad people did this to me… they're gone now though so you and your mom don't have to worry about them." Clem says and the girl nods.

"I have bandages in my bag… do you need some?" She asked.

"No I'm good sweetie, you keep them just in case." Clem says and I watch them. I get to thinking a bit.

"You need some water?" I asked as I handed her my canteen. She nods and slowly takes it.

"Thank you… for the water and candy." She says and I nod.

"You're a smart girl." I say and she looks at me. We all sit on the couch and I keep my eye to the door to make sure they're safe. I see Clem looking at her a bit and I watch her.

"Did she uh… did your mom teach you how to shoot that?" She asked as she pointed to the gun. The girl nods a bit.

"Yea… she taught me a lot of things, she told me to watch for people too." She says.

"That's good….did your mom tell you how her and this Clementine got separated?" Clem asked and I watched them both than the door.

"Some strangers were surrounding her and the girl threw a rock at one of them…. Not much on that really." She says and I see Clementine breath a bit. It started to get dark out and I got a bookcase and put it against the door and I saw Clem start a fire in the fireplace.

"I bet you haven't had anything warm to eat for a while hu?" Clem asked and the girl nods.

"Well you'll love this, our friend Omar is an excellent cook." I said as Clem began to warm up the food.

"Did you get separated from your group?" The girl asked and I shook my head no.

"No we're just trying to get to the farm that's a few days from here." I say. The girl looks at me.

"We passed that place a long time ago…. We stayed there but walkers came… it might be clear now but I don't know." She says and I nodded a bit.

"Least it's not people." Clem says as she hands the girl some food then me and then herself. We are in silence for a bit and I heard something outside so I set the bowl down and look out the window just a bit and grabbed my rifle when I saw the shadow. The girl grabbed her gun and so did Clementine and I watched the door a bit and someone knocked on the door and the girl ran to it.

"Mary?" We heard and I saw as the girl tried to move the bookshelf.

"Mom?" The girl asked.

"Did you block the door?" The woman said on the other side and I helped move the bookshelf and so did Clem. A woman came through the door. It was just as Mary described her as she hurried and closed the door and moved the bookshelf back and then saw me and pointed her gun at me.

"Mom don't this is my new friend." She says and the woman glares at me.

"You don't know her she could be one of those people." The woman says and I slowly set my rifle down and put my hands up.

"Christa." I heard Clem say as she moved from behind me and I see Christa lower her gun as she looked at Clem.

"Cl-Clementine?" She asked and Clem nods and I lower my hands as she lowered her gun a bit.

"Yea…. God you got old." Clem joke and Christa looks at her and smiles a bit as she taps Clem's hat.

"And so have you." She says and I watch them and Clem moves over to me and pulled me up to meet her long lost friend.

"Violet this is Christa, Christa this is my wife Violet." Clem introduced us and I hold my hand out a bit to shake her hand and she looks at me and then takes my hand and shakes it.

"Wife?" Christa asked and Clem nods with a smile.

"Yep ain't She a beauty?" Clem asked and I turned red and walked over to the couch and sat down.

"Well didn't think you'd get hitched at a young age." Christa said and I crossed my arms a bit and Mary came over and sat next to me as Clem and Christa walked over.

"Though in this world its best to get it done early hu?" She asked and I nodded.

"What happened to your eye." She asked as she sat next to Clem and I handed Christa some food.

"Raiders a few month back…. But they're gone." Clem says as she looks at her food.

"God… so are you two alone?" She asked and I looked up at her.

"No.. we have a group back at our home." I say.

"Yea, we have Tenn, Omar, Ruby, Aasim, Louis, Willy Violet, me and my son AJ."

"Son?" Christa asked and Clem nods.

"Yep he's six years old now, he's a good boy." She says and I see Christa give a worried look to her.

"It's not her biological son…. But she's raised him since he was born so… yea." I say and Christa nods and lets out a sigh of relief.

"So what happened after we separated?" Christa asked. Clem told her everything that's happened to her, she kept out a few things like Clem smoking and drinking, though it was just so Christa didn't worry more, she told her how me and her got together and everything else though.

"We're looking to head to the farm about a few days walk, see if it's safe and if we could use it as a meeting point." Clem says as I grab the cups to clean them.

"Wow you're a badass." Mary says and I laugh.

"Mary." Christa says.

"Sorry." Mary mumbled and I came over.

"It's fine, kinda hard for a kid not to swear these days." Clem says.

"Yea trying to teach AJ is a pain but Ruby's been helping him on that." I said as I sit back down.

"Besides Clem being a badass is an understatement." I say and she smiles at me gently.

"So, Kenny was alive hu? Lee was right on saying maybe he made it." Christa says.

"Yea… he was a good man even if he had his ups and downs he was still a good man." Clem says and she leans her head back.

"You guys plan on leaving tomorrow?" She asked and I nodded.

"Need to get to the farm quick and back home." I say and she nods and thinks.

"You guys have a map?" She asked and I nod as I go grab it and show it to her. She grabs the pen off of it and marks some areas.

"Walkers have been spotted around here a lot so stay away from there, this is the fastest route to the farm it'll take less time to get there for you guys, watch for traps though hunters had them set up a long time ago." She says and we both nod.

"You could come with us." I offer.

"Back to the school I mean… it's safe for you and your daughter." I say and she looks like she's thinking on it.

"We're finding some people from our old group, but we can take you up on that offer in the future." She says and I watch Clem's reaction. She nods a bit in understanding.

"I understand." She says and I nod gently. Mary has her head in my lap as she sleeps and I watch the fire dying down a bit.

"I've looks for you for so long Clem." I hear Christa say.

"I know."

"I'm glad you did what you did for me there…. You're one tough cookie." She says and Clem smiles a bit.

"Your daughters smart though, you taught her well." Clem comments.

"Thank you… I'm surprised she looks like you… kinda but you know what I mean." Christa says and Clem laughed a bit.

"Wait till she gets older she'll look more like you." Clem tells her and I close my eyes a bit. Hours pass and morning comes around I wake up a bit early and move my neck a bit. It was stiff since I slept on the couch and I look down to see Mary still asleep on my lap, I get off slowly and lay her head down on the couch and I look in the kitchen to see Clem and Christa looking at the map with another set of paper to the side.

"If you ever want to come to the school this is the trail you follow, sorry I can't give you a map but it's for safety reasons." Clem says and Christa nods.

"Understandable." Christa says and looks at the map more.

"I do hope you two decide to come to the school." I hear and then I walk in.

"We can see each other again….. god I'm glad I got to see you Clem." She says and I stand next to Clementine and hold her hand gently.

"Same here…. I'm glad you're alive." She says to the older woman and I stroke her hand gently with my thumb.

"You take good care of Clementine you hear? She may be a badass but…. I want to see her again." Christa tells me and I nod. Hours pass and Mary wakes up, before we leave I give her a few more pieces of candy and she hugs me gently as we all part ways. The sun starts coming up as me and Clementine walk more and I look at her.

"You ok?" I asked and she nods.

"I got to see Christa again…. And she has a daughter…. It's…. I cant describe it but it was nice to see her again." She says and I nod as we walk some more.


	18. A New Place to Call Home

(Violets Pov)

-Two Days Later-

I looked at Clementine as she walk ahead of me. We hit a town yesterday and I finally found her a ring. We decided to stick with the regular bands they had but I was able to put our first initials in the rings. I looked at Clem's finger and looked at the ring on it and couldn't help but smile. I walk up to her and stand by her side and she looks at me and smiles as she takes my hand. It looked to be around noonish by now.

"So…. Hows it feel to be married and with me?" I asked her as we just walked in silence, the occasional bird chirping here and there and the cicadas making noise too. I was moving a stick around the ground a bit to make sure there aren't any traps on the ground.

"Don't even know your last name." She says and I look at her. I frown a bit and I move my hand from hers and I scratch my head a bit and then grab her hand again.

"I don't even remember my last name honestly Marshall or something maybe…. Do you remember yours?" I asked and she looks at me.

"No…. but…. I like Everett." She says and I look at her.

"Oh…. Why is that?" I asked and she smiles.

"It was Lee's last name…." she says and I nod.

"Well Clementine Everett does have a nice ring to it." I say and she giggles a bit.

"So you're taking that name too?" She asked and I look at her and nod.

"If that's ok with you." She nods and I kiss her hand gently. She looks at me a bit and I can't help but smile at her as she thinks a bit and nods.

"Clementine and Violet Everett…." She says and I smile at her. We walk some more and I see some open area and we walk a little faster my hand away from hers, and I see the old farm house way up ahead. There's a few walkers there but we can take them. I let go of Clem's hand and I grab my knife and Clem grabs hers and we start walking a bit and kill any walker in our path. It didn't take long since we were quiet but it was still tiresome. When we got to the house and looked around a bit I looked down at the fence and saw it was just barbed wire. I lifted up the barbed wires fence a bit so Clem could get through and then she lifted it on the other side so I could go through. We go to the house and I open the door slowly and look around just a bit then open the door wider for Clementine.

"Seems safe enough." She says and I nod.

"Let's look around a bit more just to be sure." I said and she nods and we look around the house a bit. Pictures of the people who left this place long ago, photos of people growing up without a care in the world, god it was sad.

"Violet turn around." I heard expecting to see a walker but instead it was Clem with one of those instant cameras and she snaps a photo of me. It wurs a bit and she grabs the photo and smiles at me and I chuckle.

"Really?" I asked as she shows me the photo and I chuckle a bit as I grab the camera and I take a photo of her. I smile as I grab the photo and she smiles at me.

"There now we got photos of each other." I say and I place her photo in my front pocket by my heart and I tap it and she comes up and kisses me. I kiss her back and I hold her hand gently.

"You're just adorable." She says and I smile at her gently as I hold her hands more.

"You are too Mrs. Everett." I says and she smiles at me and then I kiss her cheek gently. After we finish searching the house we sit down and relax a bit on the couch and I look at her as I smile a bit.

"You know…. Maybe… maybe we could all just live here?" She asked and I looked at her.

"I thought this was only if something happens at the school." I say and she looks at me a bit.

"Just get everyone and move here, build a good working fence and just farm for crops and…. That's it." She says and I think.

"It… it seems nice yes…. And I think everyone will be on board with that." I say and I place my hand on her head gently and slowly rub her head as she leans on me a bit.

"Gotta Thank Christa when we see her again…. Made the trip easier on us." I say and feel Clementine nod a bit. The house is quiet and it's a comfortable silence. I could hear Clem breathing, I could tell that she was safe, I could tell she was alive.

"I think Ruby would like this place more…. More land to grow food and Omar could try something new…. AJ and Tenn could run around more and so could Rosie….. And say that a couple in our group does decide to have kids…. They have a shit ton of land for their little ones to run around." I say and she nods.

"Let's just live here." She says quietly and I nod gently.

"Ok… we can live here." I say and I move my hand from her head and I grab her other hand with her wedding ring on it. I smile a bit and she messes with my hand a bit and I look down at her as she rests her head on my lap.

"How'd I get so lucky?" I asked her.

"Hm?" She hums as she looks up at me.

"How'd I get so lucky to have you? How'd…. How'd I get so lucky to have met you and AJ, to have you and him in my life?" I asked.

"Well it all started with my bad driving." She says and we both chuckle and I place my forehead against hers and breath a bit.

"I mean it though…. How'd I get so lucky." I say once more and she kisses me and I kiss her back. She places her hands on my face and when we pull apart I kiss her again and slowly move my hand down her shirt and I place my hand on bare skin.

"Vi." She says and I close my eyes a bit and kiss her again and she kisses me back. I trace her scar a bit and I feel her shiver a bit at my touch and we move apart. I swallow a bit as I felt her breath on my lips and she pulls me in for another kiss. I slowly move us so she's laying on the couch and I'm above her and we pull apart again.

"Just…. Just say the word and we can." I tried to say and she kisses me again and again. I pick her up and take her up the stairs to one of the bedrooms. I close the door with my foot and set her down and I make sure to lock it. She pulls me back in for another kiss and I help her take her shirt off.

-Hours Later-

I woke up to some movement on the bed and opened my eyes slowly to see Clementine shifting in the bed a bit. My hands were around her bare waist and I kissed her exposed shoulder gently as she moved closer to me. I look at her as I move a bit and she looks back up at me and I smile as she pulls me in for another kiss. I kiss her back gently as I place my hand on her hip and I kiss her cheek then her jaw.

"Afternoon." She says quietly and I nod a bit and I kiss her collarbone a bit and she giggles as I lift my head up and look at her. I smirk a bit as I kiss that same spot and she lifts my head up to look at her as she smiles.

"Did uh… did it feel good?" I asked and she nods and sits up a bit and stretches and I get a good view of her body.

"Oh yea that felt amazing." She says and I chuckle.

"Trying to give me a big ego?" I asked and she laughed as she kissed me again.

"No, it's a fact, and a fact that only I will know about." She says and I nod as I kiss her again and again. We decided to get up and as we did we put our clothes back on and I pull her to me, my chin on her shoulder and she takes her right hand and places it on the right side of my head as I lean into her more from behind.

"Yea, only you." I say and take her hand gently as I kiss her cheek. I look outside to see the sun setting some more and I decide to go block off the door just to be safe as Clementine starts a fire in a fire place. I sit next to her as I help her with the fire.

"So, have you ever wanted a pet?' I asked and Clem nodded.

"Oh yea, I always wanted a puppy but my dad was allergic to dogs so we couldn't have one." She says as I watch her.

"I've always wanted a chinchilla…. I would do an ass ton of research to show my parents I was responsible enough to have one but…. We couldn't afford it." I tell her.

"What would you have named it?" she asked and I thought a bit.

"Toes?" I questioned and she laughed a bit.

"Well what would you have named your dog?" I asked.

"Hmm ok you got me." She says and we grab some of our food and I eat a little bit.

"Hmm, I should make some bread if we live here, I could… grandma taught me how to make it fully from scratch, we'd make it when we had pasta." I explain and she nods.

"I'd really like it if we could find an apple tree, my grandpa used to make apple pies a lot before he passed away." Clem said.

"Bet they were good." I say.

"I wouldn't know, my grandpa passed away before I was born. But my mom talked about him a lot how her dad would make his special apple pie for Christmas it was a once a year thing, my mom loved apples when she was younger." She says and I rub her back a bit.

"I bet that's were you get your love for apples too." I joke and she shoves me.

"Ok nugget girl." She says and I pull her to me and I kiss her head and she turns and kisses my nose.

"Hey after dinner lets go out and look at the stars…. Maybe we can find your potato heart." I said and she laughed.

"Ok sounds fun." She says and I nod as we eat our food. I do know we would have to find some food while here so we wouldn't starve on our way back. It was about an hour of slow eating, wed talk a bit and make some plans for this place if we do plan to live here. After we finished eating, we went out into the back yard and I watched as Clementine looked around a bit.

"Wow." She says and I nod as we look up at the sky and I smile a bit. No trees in the way no climb up the bell tower just to get a good view of the stars. Hell I don't even see a walker for miles.

"Got to admit if we lived here we could do this every night." I said and I felt Clem lean on me. I look at her as she looks up at the stars and she closes her eye a bit and breaths. I look to the side and see a porch swing, I move us over there and make sure it's safe as we sit down on it and just swing gently as we look up.

"Shit ok so that constellation looks like…. A lizard." I say and she looks at where I point.

"Alright what's the personality for this one?" She asked and I thought.

"It's not much of a personality but I remember reading a book saying the lizard totem have the power to regenerate anything they feel that they have lost." I say and she looks at me.

"That's everyone at this point right?" She asked and I breath a bit.

"I guess so but that might not be the right meaning it's just something I read before a long time ago." I say as we keep looking at the stars.

"This is nice." She says as she lays her head on my lap and I stroke her hair gently. I decided that it was time for us to go to sleep and so I helped Clem inside and into the bedroom we shared not to long ago. I laid her on the bed and then headed down the stairs to block off the doors as best as I could. Once I was done I headed back up to the room and got in bed with her, then held her waist gently and I fell asleep. By the time I woke up the sun had been up for a good long time and I looked to see Clementine gone. I got out of the bed and searched the house quickly and saw Clem in the kitchen looking over the map as she marked the area on it.

"Morning sleepy head." She says and taps the mug on the table and I see it's some coffee and looked recently made. I go to the table with her and look at the map as I take a few sips and hand her the mug back so she could have a drink to. I then go behind her to look at the map a bit and I kiss her head.

"So I was out looking around the farm." She says and I look at her.

"Don't worry I was safe…. Anyway I found a truck." She says and places the keys on the table and I look at her.

"It'll make the trip back to the school easier on us." She says and I nod as I watch her.

"Alright, you wanna leave now?" I asked and she nods as she looks up at me a bit and I lean over to her and kiss her cheek and go get our bags ready. It didn't take long before we headed to the truck and she got in and turned it on as I stood next to her. It started up a bit and I looked at the gas tank and saw that it was almost empty and so did Clem as she turned it off.

"We gotta find some gas." She mumbled to herself and I nod and set our bags in the truck and I look around the barn a bit with her and she sighs when she can't find any gas.

"It's fine, there might be an old gas tank somewhere around here." I say as we look around more. We did find a big gas tank but it was empty and I rub my neck a bit as I look at her.

"We could find some cars on the road." She says and I nod.

"Alright yea we can do that." I say and I see Clem grab a hose and then a little pump and we head to the house to work on it so we could get gas. I grab one of the gas canteens and look at her as she finishes up her project.

"Alright let's get going." She says and we head to the truck and she turns it on as I get in and starts driving in the direction of the school. I looked at the map as she drove and we stopped a few times to check the cars for any gas and we'd fill up the truck a bit. It took us about a day and a half to get back to the school and we parked the truck inside the gates as Willy opened it for us.

"Holy hell you found a truck?" Louis asked and we both nodded.

"Yea Clem found it, amazing that it works." I said and she nods.

"Ok so we're gonna pack as much as we can and head back to the farm if everyone is alright with that." I asked and they look at us a bit.

"Isn't it only for emergencies?" Omar asked.

"Well…. No one knows it's there." I said.

"No one knows the school is here, Marlon took down the signs." Louis said and I know I hate speaking bad about the dead but.

"Yea but the raiders…. If there's more and then the people me and Clem brought back." I say and I look at Ruby a bit. I still need to ask her.

"Sounds like a plan, especially with those people walking around." Aasim said and I nod a bit.

"Are we leaving again Clem?" I heard and looked at AJ as I got out the truck and went over to them.

"Yea but everyone's coming with us, we found a big farm so you have more room to play." She says and I nod and place my hand on her shoulder as she looked up at me.

"We can load up the truck while you explain things more to AJ ok?" I asked and she nods as she walks off with him. As we began packing I went over to Ruby and pulled her to the side.

"Clem said you were in the room with her when she was talking to Arvo, right?" I asked.

"Of course, she couldn't trust herself near him alone so I stayed with her." She says and I nod.

"Did Arvo day anything that uh…. Made you uncomfortable or sick?" I asked and she looked at me a bit.

"Did Clementine tell you?" She asked and I nodded and she sighed.

"Yea he said something a bit unsettling." She said and I nodded.

"Ok." I mumbled and slicked my hair back a bit and I saw Ruby looking at my hand.

"A ring? Didn't know you had one." She says and I chuckle a bit.

"Clem's got one too…. For reasons." I mumbled and I look at her and she looks like she wants to squeal.

"Don't say anything about it yet, we wanted to you know… surprise you guys, maybe." I said and she nods.

"Don't worry my lips are sealed." She says and makes the key and lock motion on her mouth and I nod.

"Thanks Ruby." I said and she nods. We grab any medical supplies we have left and set them in the truck and I go grab a few books for AJ, Tenn and Willy to read while we drive. I head to the music room and see Louis taping away at the keys a bit and I rub my neck.

"Sure is gonna be quiet when we leave." He says and I nod.

"Yea…. Maybe we can try and fix the old solar panels they have, I just think it needs to be cleaned off…. If so than we can listen to all types of music." I said and sat next to him.

"Hm, AJ was loving this." He said and tapped a few more keys and I look at him.

"I'm sorry Louis…. It's just…. You remember what the place looked like, no one hasn't been their since well one of Clementines friends." I said and he looks at me.

"Her friend?" He asked.

"Yea, the woman Christa she talked about her a lot remember we met her a few days back."

"Are you sure it was her?" He asked.

"Clementine recognizes her…. She even has a daughter Mary, they're good people." I said and he looks at me.

"Alright…. Let's get going." He says and gets up and leaves. I look at the piano once more and I close the top to the keys and I walk out the school as I see Clem helping AJ in the truck. I guess he wanted to sit in the bed of the truck and I come up and smile at him.

"You be careful back here ok?" Clementine tells him and I place my hand on her shoulder and I pull her to me gently.

"AJ knows that, don't you big guy?" I asked and he nods.

"Yea, I know Clem." He says and I look at her.

"You ready?" She asked me.

"Almost, just gotta grab something from my room and we can head out." I said and she nods then kisses my check and I head to my room. Once in there I looked around and grabbed the old school photo album and another bag to put some small items in. I head to Clementine and AJ's old room and see that AJ forgot his toys and drawings, so I grab them for him and head back to the truck.

"Everyone ready to go?" I asked and they nodded as we all got in the truck.

"Now don't go crashing into anything." Louis says from the back as Clem starts it up.

"Just for that I might hit a walker on the way." She says and I chuckle as we leave the school. I look through the mirror and see Tenn, AJ, and Willy waving to the school and I look over to Clem as I grab her hand gently.


	19. Home Sweet Home

(Violets Pov)

-One Year Later-

It's been a year since we arrived at the farm, a year since we've fixed up the place and turned it into a home. It's so quiet here, so peaceful. We farmed on the land, grew some crops, we hunt a bit in the woods from time to time. The boys are growing and they finally get to act like kids by running around, playing, drawing, getting in some trouble here and there but nothing dangerous. We fixed up the solar panel a bit, we were so damn lucky when Aasim found the books on how to work and fix them.

"What are you thinking about?" I heard as I turned away from AJ and Tenn and I look at Clementine who came up to me and kissed my cheek and I smile as I take her hand in mind.

"It's been a year already." I say an she nods.

"Yep…. One year on the dot." She says and I look at the boys again.

"Been married for a year too." I say and I can feel her smile. I know she's smiling and it made me smile a bit.

"God I remember when Louis was squealing and planning everything." I said and closed my eyes remembering that day. We didn't have anything big, just a small little ceremony. Ruby found some flowers for Clementine and god she looked so damn beautiful, she always looks beautiful.

"Whatcha thinking about?" She asked again and I opened my eyes and look at her as I tap her cap gently.

"Just how beautiful you looked that day." I say and she smiles at me.

"And you looked very dapper yourself." She says and I laugh a little as I look into her eye.

"I remember when Louis cried too…. Boy gets emotional at weddings." I say as I watch him teaching AJ how to play marbles.

"AJ was really happy too." I mentioned and he looked over to us and waved and we waved back. He went back to playing with Louis and Tenn and I looked over to see Willy by the barn.

"You think Christa will be back?" I asked. Her and her daughter came back to the farm a few months ago and only stayed the night. We offered to keep Mary here for her but she wanted to stay with her mom.

"I hope so….. AJ liked Mary, someone who's his age to play with, someone new for him to meet." She says and I nod as we went and sat on the porch swing.

"Hey maybe that would be his new girlfriend." I joked and she shoved me gently.

"Now don't go saying that, he doesn't need a girlfriend yet." She says and I smile.

"Such a mom thing to say."

"Says the only person that AJ calls mom." She says and I smile.

"And I'll gladly let him call me that…. It feels nice." I say and the wind blows softly and I close my eyes as I feel the breeze on my face.

"You look so relaxed." She comments and I nod.

"Haven't dealt with bad shit for a year, Yea we get a few walkers here and there but nothing bad or… life threatening." I say.

"When all this started… ten years ago…. I remember Lee saying that to me and Kajaa as we sat and talked on Hershel's farm." She says and I look at her and see she had closed her eye too. I look at her hand intertwined with mine. I look at the ring on her finger and I lift her hand up and I kiss it and she looks at me and I smile at her.

"Mom, Clem." I heard and looked as AJ ran up to us and showed us his drawing. He's gotten a lot better and I smile as I look at it.

"Very good." I say and rub his head. He then taps me and smiles.

"Tag you're it." He says and runs off the porch and I chuckle as I let go of Clem's hand and run after him. It was about a minute into the game and I pick him up and spin him around and I look at Clem who was laughing and AJ laughed too as he turns in my arms and hugs me. I hug him back gently and set him down on the ground.

"God you've gotten big." I comment and he looks at me.

"Yep, Clem said I could be as tall as Louis." He says and I hear Louis laugh.

"Got a ways to go kid but you'll get there." Louis says as he picks up the marbles and comes over to us.

"So what are you and Clem going to do for your one year together?" Louis asked and I thought.

"Don't know yet, maybe take a stroll, stargaze a bit…. Talk…. Normal things we do." I say as I look at Clementine who had her eye closed as another breeze passes by.

"She's happy." He says and I nod.

"I hope so." I say and AJ runs off again and I smile.

"They both are." I say as I keep watch on him.

"What about you? Are you happy?" I asked him as I looked up at him.

"I am… I'm very happy… we got more music, everyone is healthy, everyone is happy, we haven't dealt with people in so long, no child snatchers, just…. Peace and quiet." He says and I nod as I pat his back a bit and he places he hand on my shoulder.

"That's good. So when do you think Aasim is going to pop the question?" I asked and he smiled.

"Any day now, if Ruby doesn't beat him to it though." He says and I laugh as I look over to them as they just say by the tree and talked.

"Lunch time." We all heard and I nodded as I went to go help Omar with the food, they all sat at the picnic table and grabbed our plates and I went to get Willy. I saw him working on something by the barn he was sitting on the ground so I sat next to him and looked at his little project.

"Whatcha working on?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Just something for the people we've lost." He says and I rub his back as I looked at the little wooden plaque he was working on, and the list of names he had.

"That's very sweet of you Willy." I say and he turns red so I give him a noogie and he laughs a bit and I pull away from him. I looked at the names as saw all the people we lost, the people Clem lost, heck he even had his mom and dads name on the list and I saw my parents name as well.

"Is it ok if they're on here?" He asked as I touched the paper where my parents name was written. I kept quiet for a bit and I nod.

"Yea…. I don't know if they're alive still but… but it's ok." I say as I look at him.

"AJ wanted his parents to be first." He says and I chuckle.

"Is that ok?" I asked and he nods.

"Yea." He says. I look at him and rub his head gently. His hair was so long now and I look at him.

"Come on its lunch time." I say and he nods as we both get up and head to the table. I hear some laughs and he runs up to them. I stop a bit and look at everyone as they talk and pass around the plates and I just stare at them a bit.

"You did a good job." I heard and looked to Minnie.

"Nah… it was all Clementine, she wanted us to live here, she brought us here…. It was all her." I say as I watch my wife hand AJ his cup and he looks up at her.

"Yea but if you guys hadn't saved her none of this could have happened." She says and I rub my neck.

"Thanks… for being here." I say and I look at her and she's giving me a wide-eyed look and I laugh.

"And here I thought you hated my guts." She says as she shoved me a bit and I shoved her back.

"I do from time to time but… Clem helped me see some things that I would have never thought of…. I stopped being mad at you a long time ago, just never got the chance to say anything about it…. After you helped AJ, taught him a few things, helped Tenn when he was down… you were trying your best and I can't say that it's a bitch to get trust back." I told her.

"Well aren't you all wise now." She says and I chuckle.

"Gotta grow up some time… hell I'm practically an adult now." I say.

"Yea, a young dumb adult…. But a good one." She says.

"I never got the chance to thank Clementine for saving me." She says as we look at everyone.

"I'm sure she knows already."

"Yea but she needs to hear it." She says and I nod. I won't force her to say it now only when she wants to.

"Now come on let's go get something to eat." She says and we walk to everyone. I sit next to AJ since he wants to be next to both me and Clementine as he shows us more of his drawings and he showed off Clem's drawings too. Who knew she was a damn good artist.

"It looks like a photo." AJ says amazed.

"Lots of practice." Clementine says and AJ smiles.

"Could you draw my mom? And dad?" He asked and she nods.

"Of course."

"Alright everyone, today is a special day today." Louis says as he taps his glass and I roll my eyes a bit but smile. That's just him.

"One year ago today, Violet and Clementine tied the knot, finally I thought Violet was just going to be a loner." He says and I laugh a bit.

"And Clementine makes her happy, AJ gained a new mom, and both AJ and Clementine joined our family, yea they joined long before that but officially they're part of our family." He says and I smile a bit. I think just a bit and stand.

"I know this is supposed to be a happy moment but… I'd like to take the time to remember all the people we've lost over the years…. People who were important in our lives, people who got us to this point, people who protected us." I say and look at everyone I lick my lips a bit.

"They may be gone but we will remember them always, remember the people we've lost on the way… people we hope to see one day… as we grow, we tell their stories, as we grow old, we make new members in our family we tell them of those who helped us…. As we keep living for them not just for survival reasons but to tell others of sacrifices that were made for us." I said and looked to everyone who nods.

"I may not be religious like my parents wanted me to be, but I do believe that there is a heaven, and everyone we knew is watching over us. To see how happy, we are and I hope they're smiling down on us… knowing we found a new place to call home, the home they wanted for us as we lived in this world." I say and clear my throat a bit.

"I'll drink to that." Louis says and we laugh a bit and I sit down and so does he. We passed the food around and talked a bit as we ate, AJ would look at Clem and me and I rubbed his head gently. Rosie was laying near Clementine's feet and would sit up a bit and Clem would pet her head gently.

"You know." I heard and looked to Clementine. We all did.

"I never thought I'd make it this far in life." She says and I rub her back.

"Never thought I'd find a place to call home, I honest to god thought that I'd never have the chance to give AJ a normal life like I did before all this happened… I was to focused on moving and keep moving never stopped…. Honest to god I thought I'd get bitten at some point or end up with a bullet in my head because of some asshole.." She said and AJ looked up at her.

"I never thought I'd find people my age either, when… when Marlon told me that the school was only run by kids I was shocked, I was so use to adults running things, every group I've been with always had adults, kids didn't know the dangers they were in, didn't run things but when I was younger I was asked to do a lot of things, Lee wanted me to be a child when we were at the Motor Inn, didn't want me to worry about growing up so fast." She says and I watch her.

"I wanted the same for AJ, but I never could give him a home…. But now… with you guys…. He has one…. I thought I'd still be driving that damn car till it ran out of gas just keep moving and that's it…. I always make a joke about how I literally crashed into your guys life, and…. I'm sorry for all the pain I had caused not just to you guys but for every group I've been in… I stayed alone because of that… I was a kid raising a kid."

"But now…. AJ has a home, he gets a taste of what this world was like before the dead came about, he has a wonderful mom, Aunt's, Uncle's friends, brothers, sisters, everything I wanted for him." She says and looks down at AJ who looked like he wanted to cry and I rub his back and Clem looked like she was about to cry too.

"I wasn't living for myself I was surviving for him… I didn't care what happened to me, only him." She says.

"Did I do a good job?" She asked just him. Only him.

"Of course you did, stupid." He cried a bit and he hugged her tightly and she hugged him back. I looked at everyone.

"Rebecca would be proud of you." Ruby says and I nod and I see Clem nod a bit as she still hugged AJ and I looked at my family.

"Thank you." She says as she wipes her eyes and looks at everyone.

"Thank you for letting us stay with you." She says and I nod. We all said our thanks to everyone and Minerva said her thanks to Clementine and I nod to her. After lunch was over with we all helped to clean up and I went to our small garden of flowers. It helped Clementine clear her head being here. She'd garden a bit with Ruby and I would watch her from the porch as she did so. I can see why she liked to come here to think.

"Clem out did herself with this." Ruby said and I looked to her and nod.

"Yea…. Yea she did." I said and picked a flower up and laughed as it was a Violet.

"If it helps her than I'm glad… she deserved it, she deserves all of this, we all do." I say as I sit down and Ruby sits next to me.

"She's done a lot for you." She says and I nod.

"Yea… and to think when I first met her I was a bit of an asshole, but she grew on me." I said as I looked at the violet between my fingers.

"And yet you asked her to marry you." She says and I smile and nod.

"I'm glad she said yes…. Even if she didn't, I'd still be by her side though all this… I'd give her all the time we had to wait for her to say yes…. She's a wonderful woman, with a wonderful son."

"Even if he did bite me that boys grown on me." She says and I close my eyes and smile.

"He's a good boy… I'm glad we gave them a home…. I'm glad we gave them something that they've wanted for so long…. What she's needed for so long." I say and look out to the field.

"I wish I could do more for her."

"You can."

"I…." I sigh a bit as I rub my neck.

"You know you can, she's happy with what she has now Violet, she's not picky like others, you know that and we all know that, you kept her with us even after we… kicked her out, but she didn't give up, she helped us even after what we did, she's fought for so long she's fought so hard… she went looking for AJ for a year, she's done a lot of things most of us probably never could think about." Ruby says.

"She fought to give AJ a home, she fought for you, even when she was on that boat I bet she was thinking of you and AJ and how she was going to get back to you two." She says and I look at the flowers.

"Even if we didn't go after her she still would have fought to be back with you and AJ." She says and I nod.

"Yea… she'd go through hell and back again for him." I say as I stand up.

"Thanks for talking with me." I say and she nods.

"Of course, I'm always here, or you could always talk to Louis." She says and we both laugh a bit as we head into the house and I see Clem drawing with Tenn and AJ. I look over her shoulder and see her drawing a woman.

"She's drawing my mom." AJ says and I nod as I place my hands on her shoulders and she looks up to me and turns a bit as she grabs my shirt and pulls me in for a kiss and I kiss her back.

"I love you." She whispers in my ear and I smile and whisper back.

"I love you too." I tell her and she nods gently as she lets go of my shirt and goes back to drawing. I watch as AJ tried to copy her and I sit down at the head of the table and just watch them. Tenn is drawing too and I decided to join in and draw some flowers here and there on the paper and I look AJ as he taps my shoulder and I look at his drawings more.

"Hey Ya'll we got the VHS working." I heard and looked to Ruby and Aasim.

"What's a VHS?" AJ asked and I looked at him.

"It's this big black tape that has movies on it." Tenn said and I nod as we go to the Living room and Ruby put in an old Disney movie and I chuckle as I leave the room as the kids go and watch the movie, I see Clementine sitting with AJ as he asked some questions on the movie. I decided to look over the map with Louis a bit as we marked some more hunting areas.

"THE DOGS ARE TALKING!" I hear AJ yell and I laugh a bit as I watch him look at Rosie and then Clem.

"It's a cartoon." Willy says and I go look at them.

"So, Rosie can't talk?" AJ asked.

"Well, not like us no." Clementine explained and I see him look at me and I nod and look at the movie a bit then I get back to work and it wasn't till the movie was over when I see clementine walk over to me. I look to see AJ and the others asleep in the living room, and I look at her as she takes my hand and we walk outside.


	20. A Nice Place to Talk About

(Clementines Pov)

I looked at violet as I took her outside. I took her to the big tree in our yard and I watched as she laughed a bit when I bowed to her a bit in a joking manner.

"Really Clem?" She asked and I nodded as I pulled out an old Walkman I had found and she looks at me a bit.

"Come on let's dance." I say as put the earbuds in and she puts one in her ear. I take the other one and put it in my ear as well. I hit the play button on the Walkman and she laughed at the song as she grabs my waist, I place the Walkman on my hip and I wrap my arms around her neck as she hums to the song.

"Wise men say…. Only fools rush in…. but I can't help falling in love with you." She sings so quietly just for me to hear. It was sweet.

"Shall I stay?

Would it be a sin

If I can't help falling in love with you?" The song played as violet sang with it and I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life tooFor I can't help falling in love with you." We move side to side a bit as we dance slowly. Just like the first time we danced.

"Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you

For I can't help falling in love with you." She sings and I smile as she kisses me. I lean in more to kiss her and the Walkman stops and I take it off my hip.

"Batteries must be dead." She says and I sigh a bit.

"Damn, and I liked that song." I said and she laughed a bit as she takes the earbud out and hands it to me and I set them in my pocket as I look at her.

"I'll find batteries for you." She says and I look at her and smile a bit as we sit under the tree and look at our stars. She points out a few new ones and I hear some running and look to see AJ coming over to us and Violet grabs him as he almost trips. They both laugh and I just watch them.

"What's our little adventurous son up to now?" She asked him and I look at him.

"Just wanted to make sure you're both ok." He says and she smiles as she kisses his cheek and shows him our stars as well.

"Yea Clem's more like a knife." He says and I laugh.

"I said the same thing but, you can bee the knife too." Violet tells him as he sits in her lap and he looks up at the stars too.

"I like this." He says and I nod.

"I'm glad." Violet says as she looks at me and I come next to her and hold her free hand.

"Did people do this a lot before the monsters came?" AJ asked.

"Yea, I use to do this a lot when I was younger, except I knew the different star formations, now me and Clem here just make some up, people do it with clouds too but they never stay." Violet explains as I rub her hand gently.

"Can we do that?" He asked.

"Yea… Yea we can do that." She says and smiles at him.

"After patrolling of course." She says and AJ nods. I smile more as I watch them. Violet would point up at the stars and even showed him the Milky Way.

"I actually remember that it's considered a nebula, or that's our galaxy there tons of them out there, thousands, millions." She says and I see her think a bit. Her face scrunches up a bit when she thinks.

"Wow." AJ says amazed at this new information.

"I should find a book on stars for you if you're that interested." She tells him and he nods.

"I'd love that." He says and I lean my head on her shoulder as I look up. And that's all we did together for the past hour was just find stars point them out.

"That looks like a heart." AJ says and violet laughed.

"Or a potato." She says and I laugh a bit and I hold her hand gently.

"Mom…. What's heaven?" He asked and I felt her grip my hand.

"What do you think it is?" She asked him. He thought a bit hoping he doesn't say the wrong answer. He turns and looks at me and Violet and speaks.

"I think….. it's a nice place like Tenn talks about…. Where everyone is normal again and happy." He says and I watch her.

"That's What Heaven is… it's a very nice place to be, no walkers, you get to be with your family again, friends, pets." She says.

"Are my parents there?" He asked quietly.

"Of course they are, they were good people." She says to him.

"So you only go there when…. You die?" He asked.

"… yea…. A lot of people say you have to be a good person to get into heaven…." She then stays quiet.

"You and Clem would go there?" He asked.

"Do you think I'm a good person?" She asked him quietly and he nods.

"You both are, you helped people and Clem helped me and you help me." He says and she smiles a bit at him.

"Are your parents there?" He asked her and she didn't speak. Not for a while.

"I'm…. I'm not sure, maybe, maybe they're still alive." She says and rubs his head gently.

"Why didn't they come get you than?" He asked.

"Then I wouldn't have met you and Clementine." She says and looks at him.

"Oh."

"Think of it this way, if my parents are still alive and they came to get me, I would have probably never met you and Clementine, we wouldn't be here talking about the stars… I wouldn't be here holding you or Clementine close to me…. In other words I'm glad they didn't come for me." She says and closes her eyes a bit.

"Maybe we would have met later on in the years, but I'm glad I met you two when I did." She says and looks at me and smiles a bit.

"Would you and Clem have gotten married still?" He asked and I chuckle a bit and so does she.

"Probably, not to sure on that though but let's not worry about that." She tells him and he nods.

"Well were do the bad people go if only good people are allowed in heaven?" He asked. Violet grips my hand a bit and then lifts it up and kisses it as she looks at me.

"There's three places people can be and go to." She says and pulls her hand from mine and lifts up three fingers to him and tilts her hand to the side so it looks like three layers.

"The Center is where we are now." She says and points to her middle finger.

"That's earth, this is where you're born into and where you live right now." She explains and closes that finger so now there only two fingers. She then points to her index finger.

"The top is heaven, that's where good people like Clementine, your parents, and any other good people like yourself would go to when they pass on." She says. I watch as she closes that finger to her hand and her ring finger is out.

"Then you have what's below, were bad people go…. That's called Hell…. That's where people like Lilly and the people that took you away from Clementine would go." She says and closes that finger.

"Where do you go?" He asked her.

"I'm not sure buddy, I always asked myself that every day….. so I'm not sure." She says.

"You'd go to heaven like me and Clem." He states to her and she smiles.

"And we can be a family up there too, and you can meet my mom and dad, and you can meet Clementines mom and dad and Lee." He tells her.

"You think so?" She asked and he nods.

"I know so." He says and she hugs him and he hugs her back.

"Would you still call me mom?" She asked and he nods.

"I'd change it to mama Vi, though." He says and she laughs lightly.

"That sounds nice… what would we do?" She asked. AJ then told her everything we'd do in this special place.

"And I'd draw for you still, and we'd go home and stay up as long as we want and watch movies and play tag." He says and she nods.

"And you and Clem would sit and watch the stars with me like now but on the porch, and you'd tell me stories like those books we found." He said and looks at me and smiles and I kiss his cheek gently and look up at violet and kiss her and she kisses back.

"And you'd still be together right?" He asked and both of us nod.

"Damn right we would." I say and she laughed a bit as she leaned her head on me.

"Could I have a baby sister too?" He asked and we both turned red at this. Violet did mention that they talked about this before a few years back.

"Well…. That's a… that's a bit hard for me and Clem to give you a baby sister." She says and he looks at us.

"But my mom and dad had me." He says and she nods.

"Yea."

"So why can't you and Clementine have a baby?" He asked and I coughed a bit as I rubbed my neck.

"Well… we're both girls… we…. We can't have kids on our own." I tried to explain but he looked confused.

"Well… you need a mom and dad to…. To have kids in this world….. and me and Clem are well you know we're your moms." Violet tried to explain.

"If the world was normal…. Like before, than yes me and Clementine could have kids of our own but now…. We just can't." She says quietly and looks at me then away.

"Oh." He says and she nods.

"But you could have a little niece or nephew one day, and you could be like their big brother, teach them a few things you know." She says trying to lift AJ's spirits a bit and he nods and smiles a bit.

"Ok, I'll be the best big brother ever." He says.

"Ain't gonna deny that." She says. It wasn't long before AJ got tired and we both got up. Violet carried AJ into the house and up to his room. Sadly we'd have to wake him up in a bit for dinner but after that he could rest. I watched as violet tucked him in and she turned to me and grabbed my hand as we walked out.

"I'm glad this place is big enough for people to have their own rooms." She mumbled a bit as she kisses my cheek.

"Yea that's one upside to it." I tell her and she nods as we head down the stairs and to the living room where everyone was seated and Louis had his cards out.

"Ready for a game?" He asked and Violet nods as we both sit on the floor with them. We decided to play war but without the questions and it was fun for a bit. I lay my head on Violets shoulder as she and Louis decided to play slap jack and I'd laugh when they'd slap each other's hand a bit hard.

"Ow damn it Vi." Louis says as he shakes his hand a bit and violet takes the cards.

"I win." She says as she looks at me.


	21. Hell

(Violets Pov)

-One Month Later-

"Fucking shit." I mumbled as I drove the truck and wiped the blood off my face a bit as I drove.

"FUCK!" I yelled again and felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to Louis.

"Be quiet they finally fell asleep." He says and I look in the mirror to see Clem, AJ and the others minus one all asleep in the bed of the truck.

"I…. fucking hell I just." I said as I drove far away from our home.

"Those mother fuckers they fucking" I tried to say.

"I know Vi but there's nothing we can do." He says.

"I can go back and rip those fuckers apart." I said.

"Vi."

"They took our home Louis, the one fucking place where AJ could be a damn kid, THEY KILLED TENNESSEE FOR FUCK SAKE!" I yelled and he grabbed the wheel a bit and I shoved him and gripped it.

"Violet for fuck sake keep your damn voice down." He says and I glare at him.

"You think I'm not mad? I'm pissed ok, they killed Tenn, they destroyed our home, but we can't do anything about that and right now you need to calm the fuck down." He says and I breath a bit.

"Fucking hell….. this is so fucked." I said and just kept driving.

"I know….. I know." He says and we keep quiet for a long, long time. I heard knocking on the window and looked to see Clementine and Louis opens the back window.

"Violet pull over we're a safe distance away from them now." She says but I keep driving.

"Violet now." She says.

"Just…. Just a little further ok…. Please." I ask and look in the mirror again and Clem nods just a bit. It was about thirty minutes later when I pulled over on the deserted road and turned the truck off and leaned back and put my hand on my face.

"Vi." Louis tried to say but I moved his hand off of me and got out on the truck. I look in the back to see everyone awake now including Minnie who looked… depressed.

"Minnie."

"Please…. Not now Violet…. Please." She says and I nod as everyone gets out from the back and Louis comes over.

"Who the fuck were those people?" Ruby asked.

"I don't fucking know." I mumbled.

"Those were people from the old frontier group." Clem says as she sits in the back of the truck and I look at her.

"How the fuck do you know this?" Minnie asked pissed.

"They had the same burn mark." Clem says and shows hers to Minnie.

"You were part of their group?" Minnie asked even more pissed as she tried to grab Clem and I pulled her back.

"She was kicked out long before this shit Minnie." I said.

"MY BROTHER IS FUCKING DEAD BECAUSE OF THAT GROUP, NO ONE FUCKING TOLD ME ABOUT THIS!" She yelled as she shoved me and glared at me.

"BECAUSE I THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL DEAD!" Clem yells as she gets out the truck.

"They must have escaped from the walkers ages ago, for fuck sake they had a quarter of the original numbers when I had left Richmond." She says.

"Clem?" AJ asked.

"Not now." I tell him and he nods. I didn't mean to sound rude to him but right now everyone's on edge.

"God I hope those weren't Javie's people." Clementine said to Minnie as they talked.

"And if they were? The fuck are we going to do? They just killed Tennessee like it was nothing." Minnie said as she clenched her fists.

"Fuck I don't know and I don't want to know, let's just get out of this state, find a fucking boat and go to an island somewhere."

"Like that's gonna be any better Clementine, walkers can still get you in the waters." Minnie says.

"Just everyone calm down." Ruby tried to diffuse the argument.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!" Minnie says and I get in front of Ruby.

"Don't just…. Look we all need to calm down ok? I'm pissed we all are ok?" I said and she looks at me.

"Just breath ok?" I asked and she nods a bit and leaves away from the truck to be alone. I looked to see Clementine and Louis looking at the map.

"This route will take us out of here faster, if we can just get to the coast we should be fine for a while." I heard and rubbed my face a bit and saw the blood and shook my head.

"Fucking god." I mumbled as I lifted up my shirt a bit and cleaned the blood off the best I could.

"How did they get past the fence?" Aasim asked.

"I don't know… I just don't know… fuck." I mumbled as I looked around.

"Look, if we head that way it's our best shot, we have enough supplies to last maybe a month, we can get there faster as long as we have gas." Clem said.

"And where the hell will we be going?" Minnie asked.

"We can hit savanna in a few hours, I know some places we can stay." Clem says.

"Georgia? You're gonna make us go all the way to fucking Georgie?" Minnie asked.

"Shit we can't stay here, fucking Richmond is gone, this state is a damn war zone, I shouldn't have even stayed in this fucked up place." Clem says.

"Then why the hell did you?"

"BECAUSE I DID OK?! I'M STILL LEARNING WE ALL ARE I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THOSE FUCKERS WERE ALIVE I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING!" She tells at Minnie.

"Keep it down you two you'll attracted walkers."

"Fucking Muertos this Muertos that, fucking hell this god damn world is fucked, no one can learn to work together if we all did Muertos wouldn't be around at this point, but no people gotta fight any survivor they come across." Clem rants and I look at her.

"Oh hey let's just kill kids, rape them too while we're at it, oh innocent people let's blow their fucking brains out if they don't join us, hey let's take their fucking eye out too." Clem says as she glared at Minnie.

"We got past that shit a year ago." Minnie says.

"Well let's bring that shit up, what about your old fucking group hu? Was anyone in there that you knew? Got mad cause a bunch of kids killed trained people?" Clem asked pissed.

"No there wasn't anyone there I knew."

"Then shut the fuck up."

"Calm down." I said.

"Calm? I am Calm this is me Calm in a situation like this Violet, I'm just saying let's fucking leave this damn state, take Kenny's idea and go find somewhere else to live." Clementine said.

"Babe I know what you're say I really do but right now let's just…. Let's just talk no arguments and no going at each other's throats." I said as I looked at Minnie.

"Is… is Tenn gone?" AJ asked as I looked at him sadly and we all looked down at the ground.

"Y-Yea…. Yea he's gone buddy." I said.

"Is he coming back?" He asked and I rubbed my neck as I looked at him.

"Look…. I'm gonna talk to AJ ok? There should be a town near by we can look and get some more gas for the truck." I said and Clementine nodded as I helped AJ our the back of the truck and grabbed one of the gas canteens and we walked.

"Tenn's not coming back is he?" AJ asked as we walked more.

"No… no he's not coming back."

"Cause He was shot in the head?" He asked and I shivered a bit as I looked to him then back at the woods.

"Yea…. Cause of that." I said and we walked.

"Tenn's in Heaven?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yea He is….. no way he's going to hell." I said as we walked more. God what the fuck happened we were just sitting at home and then these fuckers just, took everything from us.

"I'm sorry." He says.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm still sorry." He says and I look at him and see him messing with his fingers like Tenn did when scared or sad.

"Don't be…." I said as my voice cracked.

"Clem says it's ok to cry." He says and I shake my head as I rub my face from tears.

"I know… later we can but right now." I said and he nods. We find the town a mile down from the truck and we look for some gas, we did and I looked around a bit and we headed back to the truck.

"Is everyone going to be ok?" He asked.

"I'm not to sure." I said and I heard some yelling.

"THEN FUCKING LEAVE GOD DAMN IT!" I heard and AJ and I looked at each other and ran to the yelling and saw Minnie and Clementine being held back by Louis and Omar.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked as I set the canteen down and they looked at me.

"Your fucking girlfriend or whatever wants to take us all the way to fucking Georgia where as I say we head up north more." Minnie says.

"Look right now." I tried to speak.

"Oh quit the bullshit Violet you know going up north is better." Minnie says.

"No I."

"Going down south is better least we won't fucking freeze to death." Clem says.

"Will you two." I tried to say but no one was listening and everyone started arguing.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I hear and we all look at AJ and I shake my head a bit and sigh.

"Mom is trying to talk but you guys won't listen, so stop acting like those stupid grown up and listen to each other." He said.

"Thank you AJ and we're gonna talk about your swearing later." I said and he nods and I look at everyone.

"Look, we need to calm down, our emotions are fucked up right now."

"Understatement of the century." Minnie says and I sigh.

"Look, just….. everyone calm down, I can't leave anyone here without everyone going at each other's throats, same thing goes for you Clementine, just cause your my wife doesn't mean you're getting away with this." I said and she stops and pulls away from Louis.

"Look if we head up north there's going to probably be another group or a we're probably gonna walk in that stupid war that your people were part of." I say as I look at Minnie.

"And if we head south we don't know what's going on there…. So just… let's just talk while I drive ok? Rip this shit off like a god damn band-aid and find a new place to live….. and for fuck sake pay our respects for Tennessee." I said and everyone lowered their head to look at the ground. I nod as I fill up the tank and we get everything ready and I sigh as I look at Clementine and AJ in the bed of the truck.

"I…." I tried to talk but couldn't say anything and groaned as I got in the truck and turned it on and began driving. Louis was giving me directions as I drove and I rubbed my face a bit as he opened the window in the back more.

"You know my pa use to take us on rides in his truck like this… out in the country side, me and my siblings would just lay back and watch the clouds pass on by and even the stars." Ruby says.

"That sound nice." I hear AJ say and I look in the mirror and watched as he laid back on the bed of the truck and so did Willy. Poor boy hasn't said a damn word since the attack.

"What do you see AJ?" I asked.

"Um… clouds." He says and we laugh a bit.

"What shape are the clouds?" Louis asked.

"Oooh….. one looks like a uh…. Looks like a bear." He says and I nod as I keep driving.

"Wait till we reach the highway, you'll really see the sky." Aasim says as I keep driving. Hours pass and a few stops were made and people would change seats. Louis switched with Clementine and I just kept driving. I sighed as I closed the back window and looked at her. She stayed silent since we left the side of the road.

"Talk to me." I said.

"Nothing to talk about." She says and I rub my eyes.

"There's always something to talk about." I comment.

"Where are we headed?" She asked and I pointed to the map.

"Georgia…. And then past that." I said.

"Fuck….. just….. fucking hell this days so fucked." She says and I nod.

"Yea…. Yea it has." I said.

"Next stop we make you need to clean your face." She says and I look in the mirror and see it's red and I look away.

"I will….. I promise." I say and she nods.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"Nothing to be sorry about."

"If I had gotten to them faster."

"Don't… it's my fault Tenn is gone I didn't look around more so drop it." I tell her and she closes her mouth. God I'm being a huge bitch. I grab her hand gently and kiss it as I drive.

"Sorry just…. Can we not talk about it anymore…. I want to forget that." I said and she holds my hand back tighter and I watch the road more.

"Where exactly in Georgia are we going?" She asked.

"The way Louis was telling me it looks like I'll hit….. Savanna probably but if I take a detour." I said and she nods.

"If we do go into Savanna….. shit it shouldn't be full of walkers any more." She says to herself.

"Calling them walkers again I see?" I asked and she rubs her face.

"God so many names they were given, walkers, muertos, dead heads, monsters, geeks, lurkers…. Shit so many names." She says and I chuckle a bit.

"To many of you ask me." I say and she nods.

"I didn't mean to be an ass to you Clem I just….. I just want everyone to keep calm…. People who get angry like that it's not safe." I said.

"Yea…. I know that from experience…. I should know better."

"Don't… look we just…. We just need to find a better place, and just…. Mourn for a bit, that's all I ask for everyone to do at this point." I said and she let my hand go.

"Willy hasn't talked yet." I mentioned.

"He just lost a friend…. I wouldn't talk either." She says and I nod as I drive more.

"Don't go down this road." She says as I'm about to make a left and I slow to a stop and I hear a knock and look to see Aasim and I open the window.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

"Yea just gotta look at the map for another route, Clem said not to go down that path." I said.

"What's down there?" Minnie asked.

"Oh I remember this road, Yea there's a bunch of cars blocking a path Clem said people were in a rush to leave when the outbreak started." AJ said and I put my hand through and rubbed his head.

"Turn right, then there's a hidden road you can get on and it'll take you strait to the highway." Clem said and I nod as I do as told. As promised we hit the highway five minutes later and I keep going.

"Highway is gonna be full too." Minnie said.

"Surprisingly not as bad as Atlanta, the roads there are pretty bad, heck we found a tanker once when, Lee and Kenny got an old train working…. Chuck said to ram through it but it was filled with gas or something that would blow up." Clem said as I drove more.

"He wasn't smart was he?" Minnie asked.

"Chuck was very smart…. He's the reason I keep my hair short and know how to plan ahead…. I never knew what happened to him…. Hope he's still alive, old bastard saved me when Ben ran away." She says as she leans back a bit.

"Well if he's still alive we gotta thank him." I said.

"Fuck if we hit savanna maybe we'd get to see Molly again." She says. This was new to me.

"Molly?" I asked.

"Oh yea, nice woman, think she was a teen when I last saw her, I saved her from a walker back at Crawford."

"How many groups had you been in?" Minnie asked.

"I wasn't with Crawford, those people were monsters….. fucking worse than Carver actually." She says.

"What did they do?" Omar asked and Clementine kept quiet.

"You…. You really don't want to know… if we get to Savanna stay away from the waters and for god sake don't go into the town, stay in the neighborhoods with the houses." She says and I look at her.

"How bad was it?" I asked.

"Very and I don't want AJ to see what those people did." She says and I nod. Hours pass and we were damn lucky we hadn't had many issues. Maybe a walker here and there but nothing to bad.

"Shit." I mumbled as I stopped the truck."You ok?" Louis asked.

"Yea just…. My eyes are starting to burn." I mumbled as I closed them a bit.

"I'll drive." He say.

"No just… let me take a break we can all move around a bit." I said and he nods as we get out the truck and move our legs. Willy and AJ has fallen asleep and I couldn't wake them up so we let them just sleep and I leaned on the truck.

"Says here there's a Howe's near by." Minnie says.

"We can spend the night there and leave in the morning." Omar says and I nod a bit. As we got moving a bit I got back in and headed out. It wasn't long before we hit an old dirt road and I saw a few bodies on the ground.

"Maybe we should check the old civil war grounds, they usually have a gift shop or something." Ruby said.

"No they don't have anything keep driving." Clem said.

"How would."

"Think about it the foods probably rotten or someone took it just keep going." She says and I nod. We get closer to the park and my legs began to hurt.

"Fuck I gotta stop." I mumbled as I pulled up to a run down parking lot and got out.

"You good?" Omar asked.

"Yea just… legs hurt a bit." I said and everyone got out. Everyone except Clementine.

"Come on stretch your legs." Louis said as he opened her door.

"I'm fine I just want to go." She says.

"If Violet would let me drive we could but she's being stubborn." Louis said.

"Yea well sorry I just wanted to go too." I said and Clementine rubs her face.

"Wow look at that, it's like the watch tower but cooler." AJ said and I looked to see an observation deck.

"Yea… could make one of those probably." Aasim said.

"We should check it out." Minnie said.

"Nothing good in there trust me." Clementine called out.

"Ok genius, why is that?" Minnie said and Clem hopped out the truck pissed.

"Because that's every god damn place here ok?" She said.

"Woah ok no fighting." Louis said.

"No she thinks she knows everything." Minnie said and Clem rubs her face and I look at her.

"Fine you know what, go look, by the way, you see a walker that looks like a teenager with red glasses, tell her Clementine said hi." She says pissed.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Minnie says.

"You…. You don't." Clem tried to say.

"Spit it out." Minnie pushed her and Clem punched her back and I pulled them apart and Clem got out of my grip and had her arms open wide.

"SAY HELLO TO PARKERS RUN!" She yelled and tried to act like a tv host but it wasn't funny.

"Clem." Ruby tried to say.

"No, no this is good, Hey Minnie ask AJ where he was born go on ask him." Clem says and Minnie look at AJ who shrugs and she looks at Clem.

"RIGHT HERE BABY, this place is where he was born, you wanna see Rebecca's blood too?" She asked and pointed to the observation deck.

"As you can see the deck is broken, that was because of me, and below you'll probably find a few walkers crushed by it, and none other than Sarah herself probably trying to grab atcha." Clem says then points north east.

"If you walk down that path you'll find a gift shop but don't go in there, there be walkers all up in there locked behind a security door, fascinating right?" Clem asked and I watched her as she walked around.

"If you could turn yourself into the direction of south, you'll hit a Howe's, home of the psycho Carver, we didn't bury the fucker either so you'll see his mauled face it's super grotesque." She says and I come up to her.

"Clem."

"Wait I'm not done yet, get this, this is also the same place where Kenny tried to guilt me when he talked about being beaten by Carver, isn't that exciting an old man telling a kid that he had it bad but once I mention Lee hypocrisy takes place." She says and turns to look at the crumbling structures.

"This is also where I met Arvo, the fucking Russkie that tried to kill my family and AJ, fascinating information right? Oh man this place has such wonderful memories of two older people having sex than looking out for walkers, a baby about to be born, and an old man trying to guilt a little girl for trying to save his girlfriend." She says and puts her hands on her hips.

"That's how I know this place, oh and here's the kicker, those bodies we saw on the road, those were arvos people, the woman that was sitting on that tire curled into herself, well that was AJ's real mom Rebecca, wished we could have stopped to say hi but you know, she's dead." She laughed and I looked at her.

"She's fucking snapped." Minnie says.

"Oh no dear Minnie I haven't snapped I'm just re-living the glorious days of my childhood, and the day that AJ was born, it's so fucking amazing how I know this place, oh right I'VE BEEN HERE!" Clem says and she looks at all of us.

"Let's just…. Keep going, we can stop at another place that's all, there's a, a cabin just a few miles out past a ski lodge." She says and I look at her.

"You can't be serious, Violet is tired she can't drive anymore." Minnie said.

"I can… I will." I say and everyone looks at me.

"You need to rest or fuck let Louis drive." Minnie says.

"Look I'm fine, just… rest up a bit and I'll drive to the cabin that Clem mentioned."

"You've got to be joking? Look I know Clem is your wife and all but fuck don't let her dictate you on where we go." Minnie says.

"She knows the area better than us Minnie, plus I didn't want her to go back to Howe's, she hates that place with a passion and I can see why…. I'm fine, like I said we can stop at cabin and we can rest maybe a day or two and be back on the road before you know it." I explain and she shakes her head and leaves and I see AJ trying to talk to Clementine.

"Clem can you rest a bit, you're tired." I heard him say.

"I don't need rest I can last for days without rest." She says.

"You need to sleep." He says and I come up to them.

"Clem please listen to AJ, just take a nap or something."

"I'm not a baby Violet, I'm fine."

"You've…. Clem please for me just…." I tried to speak and she looked at me.

"What?" She asked and I looked at AJ.

"Hey can you go check on Willy for me AJ? So I can talk to your mom?" I asked and he nods as he leaves us alone.

"Make a deal with me." I say as I stand next to her.

"Depends."

"When we get to the cabin, you'll go to a room and you will go to sleep…. Please." I say.

"I'm fine Violet."

"No your not, I know this place doesn't give you fond memories but we will leave in a bit…. Then when we get to that cabin, we will stop and you will go to bed and you will sleep…. Then we will head out later and get far away from this state too." I tell her and she sighs and rubs her eyes a bit and I pull her to me and I hug her.

"Please for me." I says.

"Fine…. Fine." She says and nods a bit as she grips the front of my shirt and I just hold her.

"I'm sorry for stopping here."

"Don't be you didn't know." She says and I nod a bit and I kiss her head and we get back in the truck. I drove for a while and we passed the Howe's and I keep driving. It was about a two hour drive till I reach the cabin and Clem tells me to stop. I park to the side and turn the truck off and rub my eyes a bit and lean back a bit.

"We're here?" AJ asked.

"Yea." She says and looks at the cabin. Everyone heads inside besides me and Clementine. We sit in the truck for a bit and I close my eyes.

"And you talk about me being tired?" I heard her asked and I nod.

"I know, I know…. I just wanted you to sleep." I mumbled a bit and I felt a hand on me and I crack one eye open and look at her.

"Thank you." She said and I leaned in and kisses her gently.

"Anytime." I said and she nods. After a few minutes we both get out the truck and head inside and I go lay on the couch. I felt something land on top of me and I see it's AJ and I hold him.

"You tired too?" He asked and I nodded as I closed my eyes and patted his back.

"Yep…. Shit gotta make sure Clem sleeps first." I said and got up and saw Clem laying on the other couch, her breathing slowed a bit and she had her hat on top of her face covering it.

"I think she passed out." He said and I nodded. I heard someone walking and looked to see Ruby.

"You good?" I asked her as AJ closed his eyes and I rubbed his back a bit.

"Yea just… afraid to sleep." She says and I nod.

"Yea… sorry." I mumbled.

"It's fine, you need to sleep." She says and I nod a bit as I close my eyes, and I listen to Ruby humming softly making me fall asleep faster. I don't know how long I was asleep but I woke up to a jolt and rubbed my face.

"Afternoon sleepyhead." I heard and looked to see Louis and I nod a bit.

"You sure do snore." He says.

"I don't snore."

"Fucking liar." I hear Clem mumble from her spot and Louis laughed a bit and I rub my eyes.

"You can sleep more if you need to." He says and I lay back and notice AJ was gone and I get up quickly.

"Where's AJ?"

"He's fine he's with Ruby right now." Louis says and I nod as I sit down.

"Fucking hell." I mumbled as I got up and stretched a bit.

"Clem you hungry? Me and Omar we're gonna go hunting." Louis says and I see her get up.

"No, no gun shots, there's a lake not to far from here." She says and she grabs her cap and places it on her head.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yea… Pete's traps might still be out there though anything could have happened." She mumbled as she grabs her gun and I watch her.

"Well me and Clem will get the fish, Violet you can get some more sleep." Louis says.

"I'm fine."

"Go back to sleep." Clem said and I looked at her and she looked at me.

"Please, I know how tiresome driving gets." She says. She wasn't wrong I'm still tired but I can't sleep all day either.

"Can you just wake me up when you get back?" I asked and she nods as she comes up and kisses my cheek.

"Just sleep a bit more, we can leave tomorrow." She says and I nod a bit as I lay back down. I close my eyes and as they leave I get back up. I can't sleep now I'm wide awake now.

"Stupid body." I mumbled and looked to see Aasim reading a book.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked.

"Just a small history book, nothing new." He says and I nod and I get up and head outside. I took a breath of fresh air and just looked around for a few minutes and relaxed on the porch. I look around a bit more and an hour had passed and see AJ looking in a shed and I run over to him.

"AJ don't just go in there." I said and he looked at me.

"Sorry I just wanted to see what was inside." He said and I sigh.

"This isn't like the farm, we need to be more careful remember." I said and he nods and I look at the door. It doesn't seem to be locked and I place my ear against the door and I didn't hear anything.

"Don't go in there." I heard and looked to see Clementine.

"What's in here?" AJ asked.

"Walker, broken wood, nothing special." She says and I watch her.

"Is this where?" I asked and she nodded and I looked at AJ.

"Come on Clem's right we shouldn't be in here." I said and he nods as we leave the shed alone and I look at her.

"I thought I told you to sleep." She says and I let AJ go into the cabin as we stayed inside and I looked at her.

"I couldn't sleep again sorry…. We can leave tonight I can't wait till tomorrow." I said and she nods.

"Don't want to jinx anything but I'm surprised we haven't seen any walkers for miles." I said and she nods.

"They're probably heading up north more but I bet when we get to south there's gonna be more." She says and I nod and I look at her and I kiss her gently.

"Let's just get this over with." I said and headed inside the cabin.


	22. Old Memories In A Bad Place

(Violets Pov)

-One Day Later-

We decided to leave the cabin a day later so we could all just get some rest. I woke up to the sounds of AJ and Clem talking. I looked over to see her holding an old photo and she said some girls name.

"So this is Sarah?" He asked and she nodded.

"I'm surprised the photo was still here." She says and I yawn a bit as I get up.

"Morning sleepyhead." Ruby says and I nod.

"Morning." I mumbled as I stretched a bit. We all ate breakfast and got in the truck and I got in the bed of the truck to sleep a bit more. No one objected to that. So I sat in the back with Willy, Aasim, AJ, and Louis and Minnie as Clem, Ruby and Omar we're in the truck driving. I closed my eyes for a bit and AJ rested his head on my chest.

I was sleeping for a good while before I felt a slight jolt come from the truck and AJ moved a bit on me and opened my eyes as I saw we were in a small community area filled with homes. I look to the side and see a church and I hear the truck sputter a bit and Clem cussing as she stopped the truck.

"God fucking damn it." I heard and got up slowly and saw a bit of smoke coming out the front and I helped her open it. I coughed a bit as the smoke got in my face and I waved it away.

"Fucking oil." She muttered as she grabbed an old rag and opened the cap and I looked around. Everyone was out of the truck looking around a bit as me and Clem worked on it.

"Is that a bell tower too?" I heard and looked at AJ and looked as he pointed to the church.

"Yea, that's the church bells." Clementine said and moves her hand back and shakes her hand.

"Fuck." She moves back and looks around.

"There's a lot of them around too." She mumbled a bit and sighed.

"Welp ok so the oil is out and we filled it a while back so there's a damn leak." She says and I rub my face a bit. Just one fucking break would be fine.

"But…… I do know where we can get some more if no one has been here for a few years." She said and I look at her as she thinks and looks at the houses and nods as she heads into the one we're next to.

"You know that's highly unlikely." Minnie says.

"Well no one would go into Crawford that place is infested with walkers probably, especially what people did there it's not a place people are willing to stay in for long." Clem said and I nod as we grab our stuff and head into the house. I looked around a bit and rubbed my neck as I saw how empty it was.

"River street is a few blocks away." Clem says and I look at her.

"I'm guessing you've been here hu?" I asked and she nods.

"We're in Savanna." She says and I nod a bit.

"And we're gonna leave as soon as possible." I said and she looks at me a bit. I hear something ringing and Clem hurried to the door and looked around outside.

"They must be on a timer." Aasim said.

"No, they aren't…. I find it weird that they'd be ringing the bell the moment we get into town." Clementine says and I watch her as she closes the door.

"Just keep quiet for about thirty minutes, walkers will be coming through in a bit." She said as she grabbed a bookshelf and blocked the door and I helped her as I looked at her, she went to the window and I saw a walker pass by. We sat in silence for a while till the last one passed the house and we all began moving around. The others were looking in the house for any supplies and I stood next to Clementine.

"I'm gonna go check out the town." She said.

"I'll come with." Both me and AJ said.

"Um… AJ no not this time you stay with Louis….. Violet you stay too." She said and I looked at her.

"Nope sorry I'm coming, need someone to watch your back." I said and she sighs and mutters to herself.

"Ok but no guns unless it's no choice." She says and I nod as I grab my rifle. I look over to Willy and AJ. They both come up to us and they hugs us. I hold Willy a bit more and look at him.

"Come back." He says and I nod as I look at him.

"Pinky swear." He says and I smile a bit as I hook our pinkies together.

"I promise, can you watch AJ for me?" I asked and he nods as he goes over to AJ. Me and Clem head out through the back door and we head into the old town area.

"Gotta cut people's hair soon." I head Clem mutter and I nod.

"Yea it's safer that way." I said.

"You know, I don't want you to cut your hair." She says and I chuckle.

"Is that so?" I asked and she nods.

"You can wear my hat and get a hair tie." She says and I nod a bit as we walk more. I look at the top of the roof and see something move and stopped.

"What?" I heard and looked to Clementine.

"Thought I saw someone on the roof." I said.

"Might be Molly." She says and looks at the roof and I nod as we keep walking. We get deeper into the town and I see a few walkers just walking around like nothing happened to them.

"You know, I would think that walkers are just going on like nothing happened." Clem said.

"Yea they don't seem like they do anything else unless they… You know, know we're here." I said and she nods. I see we pass a hotel and Clem goes inside and I follow her as she searches some rooms. I see one door open and I go in and see two bodies. I feel something behind me and turn to see Clem as she glares at the one body.

"You know him?" I asked and she nods as she goes up to it and kicks it a few times and I run up and pull her away.

"Fucking hell." She says and kicks it again and I move her back more.

"Hey he's dead." I said.

"Fucker deserved to suffer." She growls out and spits on the body and I turn her to face me.

"Hey the dudes gone, he's dead… looks like it's been a while." I said and looked at the body.

"Ten years, fucker didn't survive long." She said and walked out and I followed her but saw something and grabbed it. It was a walkie talkie, and it looked like it had stickers on it too. I pocketed the walkie and headed out to Clementine and looked at her.

"He's the man that lied to me about my parents." She said and I looked at her.

"Shit maybe I should have let you kick him more." I said and she laughed a bit.

"Nah don't worry…. I had to shoot him…. First living person I ever shot too." She said.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be….. He was a very bad man…. Tried to kill Lee." She said as we walked more. We found a few bottles of medicine and one energy bar which she tried to give to me but I declined.

"Nah you keep it." I said.

"I'll give it to AJ an Willy." She says and I nod as we look around more. She grabs a pack of cigarettes too and shakes her head as she throws them to the side.

"Bad habit." She mutters and I nod. We head out into the town again. We got close to the waters and I saw a huge sign that was broken and I looked around more.

"I think… Christa said something about this side of town…. Can't remember though." She says and I look at her as she looks at it and I look around more. We head to the waters and I look to the side to see a few boats and then I see a huge wall of bodies and stop. But Clementine just kept going as she looked at the boats.

"Violet come here." She says and I shake my head as I go over to her and we look at the boat. But I can't get the wall of bodies out my head and I look at it again.

"Crawford is beyond that wall." She says as she looks at the boat more and sighs as she backs away from it.

"Crazy fucking place?" I asked and she nods.

"Yep, they did a shit ton of bad things." She says as she looks at the wall.

"You uh…" I wanted to ask.

"Yea I know about what they did…. They killed off the weak, old and even kids…. Molly told me… bet you she's the one ringing the bells too." She says.

"Smart but dangerous." I said.

"Yea but it works… shit we could do that if we can't get the truck working." She says as we go to the wall and I cover my nose at the smell and I cough a bit about to vomit.

"Fucking hell, the smell." I mutter.

"Yea can't get use to it even after so many years." She says and I watched as she goes and finds an opening and goes through it and I follow her. We walk a bit into the town area.

"Shit…. Ok I can see the college but I never went past this wall."

"Should we turn back?"

"No, only other way I know is through the sewers and even then I couldn't tell you all the right directions." She says and I nod as we walk more.

"You know it's not safe walking around here with guns." I heard and turned to see a woman with this hook like weapon and I point my gun at her and Clem grabs it quickly and points it down.

"Don't." She whispers as I watch the woman with the mask looking at us.

"I'd suggest leaving this area." She said.

"We would Molly but, we need tools." Clementine said.

"How the hell do you." The woman said and squinted at us.

"Might not remember me but I was a little girl the last time we met." Clem said and I look at the woman.

"Wait…. Clementine?" She asked and Clem nods.

"Holy shit you've grown." Molly says and moves her mask and hood.

"Well yea, that happens when you age." Clem said.

"The fact that you survived this long is amazing, still a good shot?" Molly asked and Clem nods.

"Best of the best." She says and I chuckle.

"Understatement of the century." I said and she smiles at me then looks at Molly.

"Shit it's been what nine years?" Molly asked.

"Ten… I'm surprised you're still here." Clem said.

"I left a while ago I'm heading up north, heard of a group up there." She says and I look at Clementine.

"We came from up north, it's honestly not safe." I said and she looks at me.

"And you are?" Molly asked.

"Violet." I tell her and she nods.

"Nice to meet you Violet." She says and I nod.

"How did you survive this long?" She asked.

"Use to live at my old school when hell broke loose." I answer truthfully.

"And how do you know Clementine?"

"Car crash." Clem mutters and I smile a bit as I rubbed her head gently, she swats my hand away playfully.

"She helped us at my school, when it was in danger." I said.

"The hell happened to your eye?" Molly asked as she came closer to us and looked at Clem.

"Oh just a bunch of assholes doing what they do best, got some awesome scars too." Clem says as she shows her dog bite.

"And a missing finger." She shows.

"Damn kid, you're still hardcore." Molly says and we start walking. Turns out Molly was part of Crawford before they were turned into walkers.

"And little Clem here shot a walker saving my ass." Molly says.

"Badass." I said and Clem shoved me playfully and then puts her hat on my head and I look at her. I smile a bit as she looks at me and pats my head and I swat her hand a bit and she laughed.

"God You two act like a couple." Molly says."Well we are married so." Clem said and Molly looks at us.

"Hm, finally settling down hu?" Molly asked and we both nod and I held Clem's hand just a bit as we walked more.

"Trying to at least in this world." I say as we get to the school and I look around.

"Walkers shouldn't be around like crazy anymore haven't been here in a while but the bells should have gotten them out of their hiding place for a while." Molly said and I look around a bit more as we walk inside the school.

"So What happened after I left?" Molly asked Clementine.

"Hmm, it's a long story." Clem said.

"Well we've got time." Molly told her and then Clem talks about everything that had happened, she even talked about Lee.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry Clementine." Molly says as she looks at her.

"It's fine, it's been a long time since I've been here."

"So you have a kid now?" She asked.

"Yea… not biologically but yea, I think of him as my son." She says.

"Bet he calls you mom a lot." Molly says.

"Nope, But he calls Violet here mom." She said and pointed to me and I turn red a bit.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about kid." Molly said.

"I'm not embarrassed." I mutter and she laughed a bit. We get to an old auto shop and we look around a bit. I find a bag with some tools and take that and Clem grabs a tool box as well and looks inside it. She also grabbed some spare parts and placed them in my tool bag.

"Got what you need?" Molly asked as she looked from under the shed door and I nod then look to Clem as she nods and closes the tool box. We head out of the auto shop and we head up into the school and I look around and see the roof broken.

"Medicine is in there." Molly points out.

"You didn't take any?" I asked.

"Only things like Tylenol and some good stuff, I leave some things behind just in case I come back." She says and I nod as Clem goes up to the medical room and I head in. Molly opens it and we grab just what we need and leave the rest.

"Alright we good?" I asked Clementine.

"Yep lets go." She says and we start heading out and we go through a class room and Clem smiles a bit and heads to a desk and she points to it.

"Still here." She says and I go over and see she had written her name on the desk and I chuckle.

"Little rebellion." I said and rubbed her head.

"Am not." She says and crosses her arms and I roll my eyes as we walk through and armory and I look around a bit.

"Not much of an armory is it?" I asked and she looked at me.

"Yea, when we got in here there wasn't much, only a rifle I think." Clem says as she starts walking up the stairs and I follow.

"You think there's less and less walkers cause people are just going and taking them out?" I asked.

"Probably, most people won't even kill them." Molly said.

"People like James." I muttered.

"He thinks walkers are still living people in some way." Clem explained to Molly.

"Can't say much on it, I just kill whatever comes at me, I'm not going to go look for them." She said and I nodded.

"Agreed." We both said as we got to the top of the bell tower and I looked at it as a Walker was dangling from it.

"Damn he's been here since… fuck." Molly said and we all just left. We all headed to the house and I opened the door.

"Hey we're back." I announce and see the others look at us, and AJ had his gun pointed at Molly.

"Woah AJ but the gun down." I said and he looked at me.

"She's a stranger what if she's like those people." He said and I stood in front of her.

"She's not, you trust me right? I wouldn't lie to you." I said.

"No but."

"AJ I know her personally, this is Molly, I told you about her." Clementine says as she goes up to him and lowers his gun and takes it from him.

"So she's good?" He asked and we both nodded.

"Yep, she's on our side." I said and he nods.

"Ok…. But I'm watching her." He said.

"Smart kid." Molly said and I nodded as Clem handed him his gun back.

"So this is Molly?" Ruby asked and Clem nodded.

"Yep, she's cool." Clem said.

"Not as cool as Violet." I heard AJ mutter a bit and I looked at him and chuckle.

"Alright AJ wanna help me with the truck?" I asked and he nodded. Clementine, AJ and I all walk out to the truck and I open the hood as I set the tool bag down and she sets the tool box down.

"Shit you know how to fix a car too?" I heard Molly ask.

"Yea, Kenny taught me…. You know if you want you could come with us." Clem offered and I looked at her as I got the car jack from the back of the truck and began living it. AJ helping me a bit of course.

"Damn… nah I'll stick with being by myself, you've got enough people to look after." Molly said and I looked at her.

"It's no problem for us, everyone has a job." I said as Clem went under the truck after getting one of the parts.

"Yea but still, thanks for the offer." She says and I nod.

"Well we might not be leaving for a while so if you change your mind, you can always stick with us." I said and she nods.

"That sounds like a plan." She says. I go under the truck and help Clem as best as I could and some oil leaks on my face and I sputter a bit and she laughed as I come back out and wipe my face a bit.

"Ah that was good." She says and I kick her shoe and she laughs more.

"Yea well, cars just don't like me."

"Well, you and Aasim are the only ones that want to learn to fix it up." She says and I cross my arms a bit and mutter to myself.

"Hey Mom what's that in your back pocket?" AJ asked and I looked at him and pulled out the radio.

"Oh just a radio I found, might be useful, here you hold it." I offered and he grabbed it and I saw Clem come out and wipe her hands clean and she saw the radio.

"Where did you get that?" She asked.

"Found it in the hotel, didn't think anyone needed it, was collecting dust." I said and she grabbed it from AJ gently and looked at it. She then turns it on and drops it when it makes the static sound.

"Shit." She muttered and picked it back up and turned it off and sighed.

"You think a kid owned it with the stickers, though I don't know why a kid would have it." I heard and looked to Louis who came out.

"So it works hu?" He asked and I nodded and I watched as Clem clipped it to her waist.

"I'll just hold it for now." She says and looks in the hood of the truck.

"You gonna use it?" AJ asked.

"Nope, and no one else is Going to." She says.

"Why not? We could find more people." Louis says.

"Look just trust me when I say this, no one is going to use the radio and it's staying with me, cut and dry." She says and I nod a bit. AJ and Louis head back in the house and I look at her as I help.

"I'm sorry I didn't think." I said and I felt her look at me as I looked down.

"….. it's my old radio." She says and I look at her.

"Wait really?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yea…. I don't want AJ to have it cause people might…. Lie to him like they did me…. I don't want that to happen again." She says and I look at her.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"Don't be…. You didn't know it was mine and I didn't think it would still be here honestly." She says and we work some more. It was hours before we stopped and she sighed.

"Damn it." She mutters as she comes back out from under and wiped the oil off her hands onto her shirt and I look at her as I close the hood.

"We can work on it tomorrow." I said and she sighs but nods. She also wipes the sweat off her face and I chuckled a bit and she looks at me and I smile. She then wipes her hands on my face and I back up and we both laughed a bit.

"Yea… uh…. Wanna go for a walk?" She asked and I looked at her.

"Sure just let me tell the others." I said and she nods and I head inside and tell them that me and Clem are going to walk around. I see that Molly had just left and I rub my neck a bit as I left the house and saw Clem walking already and I jog up to her.

"You doing ok?" I asked as we walked a bit.

"Yea… doing fine." She says.

"You know you can tell me anything." I say and she nods and grabs my hand a bit.

"I just…. It's weird being here… you know?" She asked.

"Kinda, I mean if we went back to the school and the farm Yea it would be weird." I said and she nods.

"I haven't been here for years and they aren't good memories." She says and I hold her hand a bit tighter.

"Well once we get the truck fixed we can leave here an we can find a new place to stay." I said and she looks at me.

"Yea… like we planned." She says and we get to what looks like an alleyway but there were houses. I see her look at one house a bit. She then heads over through the shed an I look at her as I follow her.

"You know um….. I really like the time I spend with you." She says and I watch her.

"I like the time we spend together too." I said as I came up to her.

"Just be extra careful." She says and I kiss her cheek as she looks at me.

"Same goes for you but doubled." I tell her and she nods.

"Ok… I promise." She says and I nod back at her and she goes into the house. First thing I saw was that the door was wide open. I felt something hit my foot and looked down to see a hand and I back up a bit and look as Clementine walks around and stops in front of one body and I come up to her.

"Shit Bree made it all the way back here." She says to herself.

"The woman from the school?" I asked and she nods and she goes up the stairs and I follow her. We just look around the house a bit and she heads to the office and sits over by the window and places her feet up on the cushions and I sit next to her and place one hand on her knee and she looks at me. She then looks over to the couch and just looks at it.

"That's where Lee slept before I left." She said and I looked at the couch.

"You…. You said you didn't shoot him right? You lied about shooting him?" I asked and she nods.

"Yea… I told AJ that I did so he wouldn't hesitate to do that to me." She says quietly and I look at her.

"Would…. This is gonna sound shitty but…. If I got bite…. Would you be able to shoot me?" I asked and she shook her head no.

"I wouldn't be able to." She mumbled and looked at me.

"I can't." She says.

"Even if I asked?" I looked at her and she nods slowly.

"I still couldn't… I'd…. I'd probably let you bite me." She says and I look at her.

"Don't…. don't let me do that to you."

"I… I'd want to be with you though." She says and I make her look at me.

"Don't, I don't want to bite you, if you can't shoot me than leave me but for god sake don't let me bite you." I tell her and she just looks at me.

"Please Clementine." I say.

"I'll think about it."

"There's nothing to think about." I say and she looks down.

"I…. I don't want to be alone." She says. She sounds like she's going to cry.

"You'll have AJ to take care of… and everyone else, you won't be alone." I tell her and she looks at me.

"You still have people who will look after you, you'll still have AJ." I tell her.

"But not you."

"Clem."

"I won't have you, and…. And AJ won't have you." She says and I pull her to me so she sifts her head onto my neck and I lean back so she's laying on top of me.

"Well then that means if you get bit then you gotta bite me back." I tell her and she looks at me then down.

"No." She mumbled.

"Now you know how I feel when you tell me that you want me to bite you." I say and she sighs.

"I'm sorry I just…." She stays quiet and I rub her head gently.

"You're gonna make me fall asleep." She mumbled.

"Oh no my plans have been foiled." I chuckle and so does she.

"I… I really don't want to lose you." She says by my neck and I rub her back.

"I know… same goes here, I wouldn't know what to do if I lost you." I admit. Clementine tells me more about Lee.

"I once told him I was going to drop a hammer on his head, when I first met him." She says and I chuckle.

"He was fine with it I think cause he understood I didn't know him… and well other people tried to get in my house to steal my tv….. they couldn't get in cause they were stupid." She says.

"How stupid?" I asked.

"The door was open." She says with a smile and I laugh.

"Really?"

"Yep… they were really stupid." She says and I look at the ceiling a bit.

"You were probably adorable as a child." I said and she laughed.

"Oh really?" She asked and I nodded.

"So did you like baseball? Like your dad?" I asked.

"Eh kinda, I mostly played soccer though." She says and I smile.

"Why do you hate baseball?" She asked.

"Eh just not my thing." I say.

"Bet if Javie taught you, you'd enjoy it." She says.

"Hmmm maybe, maybe not." I say and she smiled a bit.

"Come on we should head back to the others." She says and gets up and looks at me and I get up too and grab her hand a bit. We walk to the house and I look around a bit. When we finally got to the house the others were asleep and we both go on watch for a bit.


	23. Goodbye Old Friend

(Violets Pov)

I woke up to some feet stomping on the ground and turn to see AJ and Willy walking around the living room a bit, I sit up but stop when I feel a body on me and looked to see Clementine sleeping on my chest.

"Clem and you overslept again." AJ said.

"Sorry kiddo." I said and slowly got up and laid Clementine down and went with them outside and let them run around a bit. I watched the area for walkers and I saw Minnie walking around a bit. She came over to me and tapped Clem's hat that was on my head.

"You good?" I asked.

"Hm… not really still…. Thinking about Tenn." She says and I rub my face.

"Yea…. Sorry I um." I tried to speak but really couldn't.

"It's fine, I shouldn't have brought him up." She says and I look at you.

"It's fine." I said and looked at Willy and Tenn.

"Less and less people these days." She says and I nod.

"Yea…. Can't be helped though." I said.

"It can."

"Don't….. don't bring up those raiders, that community had deaths too, walkers and people alike." I said and she looks at me.

"I didn't mean."

"Yea… let's just forget it." I said and watched AJ as he ran. I heard the door open and looked at Clementine as she came out.

"Morning." I tell her and she groans.

"Yea, Yea, I over slept again." She says and I laugh a bit.

"It's fine." I tell her and she looks at me.

"Alright, I'm gonna work on the truck more, see if I can get the damn thing working." She mumbled and goes back in to get the tool bad.

"She's something else isn't she." Minnie says and I look at her.

"Yea… hard worker, doesn't give up…. Lots of good things." I said and got up to help Clem as we went to the truck and we began working. It was a few hours before I got out from under and I wiped the grease on my shirt.

"Mind starting it up?" She asked as she came out and threw me the keys. I grabbed them then she filled the oil up a bit and got on the side and turned the truck on and she looked under.

"I don't see a leak." She says and she looks at me as she gets up.

"That's good." I said and she looked under the hood and nods as she closes it and I turned the truck off and she wipes her hands on my vest and I chuckle at her and she smiles and I kiss her gently.

"You did good." She says and I smile.

"What kissing you or helping with the truck?" I asked.

"Both actually." She says and I smile.

"Alright we can pack up and head out in a few." I say and she nods.

"Yea, pretty much." She says and I look at her.

"You good?" I asked.

"Yea I'm good." She says and cleans up the tools then places them in the trunk of the vehicle and I lower the truck.

"We can leave tonight." She says and I nod.

"Sounds good to me." I say and she nods then heads inside to tell everyone what we will be going. I watched as AJ and Willy went inside and packed their bags as I walked in.

"Why can't we leave just now?" Minnie asked.

"I just need to make sure the truck isn't leaking oil while it sits, just to be on the safe side sometimes it doesn't leak till after a while, happened to the one…. Back when Kenny was alive." Clementine said and she rubs her neck a bit.

"We can wait a bit, maybe look for more supplies, probably find Molly and ask if she wants to come." I said.

"We're gonna ask that lady to come?" Aasim said and I nod.

"Honestly she's be good to travel with us, plus Clementine knows her, and if my chance we could head back up north one day and find Christa and her daughter." I explained.

"I, I don't like the idea of heading back there." Omar says.

"You guys won't have to, me and Clem can make the trip back up once we find another working vehicle for you guys." I said.

"I'll come with you guys." AJ said and I nodded.

"Alright we leave tonight." I said and everyone agreed. We sat down for a bit and I watched as Clem went to the back yard and I followed her. She was looking out the fence a bit and I stood next to her.

"I know why you want to stay here longer." I said to her quietly.

"Enlighten me." She says.

"Has to do with Lee doesn't it?" I asked and she didn't speak.

"Am I wrong?" I asked.

"No…. no you're not." She says and breaths a bit and I look at her.

"Do you want to find him now?" I asked.

"In a bit."

"Do…. Do you want to go alone?" I asked.

"Honest answer?"

"Honesty is always good." I said.

"No…. no I do not want to go alone… but I'm not putting anyone in danger just so I could have a clear conscience." She says.

"Well that's gonna suck for you cause you know I'd be with you." I said as we watched a walker pass by slowly.

"Remember what we talked about last night?" She asked.

"About what to do if?" I asked and she nods.

"If I get bit, shoot me." She says so calmly.

"Same goes for you if I get bit." I tell her.

"Always keep a bullet in your gun." She says.

"Same for you." I say to her.

"Keep my hat safe." She says and I chuckle and take my vest of and place it on her.

"Keep my vest safe."

"Always."

"Tell me when you want to head out, I'll grab our guns and leave the rifle here." I say and she nods.

"We can head out now, get it over and done with." She says and I nod and go to grab our guns and I see AJ looking at me.

"Are you leaving again?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yep, we'll be back soon though." I say and he looks at me.

"Please be careful." He said and I nod.

"I'll keep Clementine safe." I tell him.

"And yourself?" He asked and I nodded.

"I will…. You be careful too ok?" I asked and he nodded. I grabbed the guns and left through the back and saw Clem watching the walker there was another one with it and I speak.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Yea…. Lets head out." She says and climbs the fence and so do I. We get over and we start walking. We walked a bit till we reached an old hospital but there was a ton of walkers coming around so we went by the door and hid.

"Fuck that's a lot of walkers." She says and I nod and check my ammo and I look at her.

"Best to just… find another way." She says and I nod as we go in the hospital slowly.

"That was a lot of walkers." I said and she nods as we walk around a bit and kept alert.

"Oh yea… less than the herd that was here before so walkers have been slowly declining." She says and I nod as we walked a bit.

"Hmm we could check down below, there could be some supplies we can get." She mumbled as she stopped and looked at the hallway a bit and I look at her.

"Is it really worth it?" I asked.

"I don't know… I know they keep the morgue down there so there could be some medical needs down there but then again we don't know who's been through here and god knows if they have medication in there." She says.

"Ok… let's check it out." I say and look around a bit and see an elevator open and I head to it.

"No let's not, there's probably nothing in there." She says and I look at her.

"I do remember that you once told AJ, Fuck off to fear?" I asked and she looked at me.

"That's different." She says and I look at her.

"Ok how about this, hypothetical situation, we go down there and we find some things that could help us later on down the road." I said.

"What if there's nothing down there than?" She asked.

"At least we can say we tried." I said and she thinks a bit.

"I just have a bad feeling about going down there." She says and I look at her.

"Alright….. we won't go than." I said and leaned on the wall looking at her as she looked at the ground.

"…. In your uh….. hypothetical situation…. Say we do find some things of importance…. You think Ruby would know how to use them if needed?" I asked.

"If she's been reading like she has been I suppose so yes…. And we probably could find some more medical books for her too, maybe other things." I said and she looked down the elevator.

"….. alright, we go down find some things if it's needed and bring it back, then we leave as fast as possible." She says and I nod and look down the elevator shaft and see a ladder and I go down first. Clementine follows me as we go down and as we got to the bottom I see a body and look at her.

"Had to have been here a while…. Probably a walker." She says and I nod as we look at the elevator door and I look to see some sort of tool and I walk in and look at it.

"The hell is this?" I asked and she looks over to me.

"I don't know and I can't imagine that being used on a body." She says and I look down a ramp and see an open door and walk to it slowly and I see a severed arm and back up a bit.

"Fuck happened here?" I ask as I see the blood on one of the tables and near the arm.

"Hell if I would know." She says and I nod as I go to the door and look inside. I see a few cans of expired food and a hole in the wall which leads into the sewers and I walk out and close the door.

"Shit." Clem says as she looks in the cabinets and finds nothing. She looks down at the table and rubs her face and I come up to her.

"Sorry, my fault." I said.

"No, you were right, least we tried." She says and I nod a bit.

"Still." I said and she nods and grabs a few medical books. I look over to the area where the bodies were kept and I see a few pillows and blankets.

"Damn people must have been sleeping here." I said.

"Not for a long time, you can tell by the dust." She says and I hit the pillow and some dust flys off and I cough a bit and she laughed.

"You hit the pillow?" She asked.

"One way to let out your anger." I said and she laughed a bit and looked at the arm a bit and went up to it.

"You good?" I asked.

"Yea just…. That watch looks so familiar." She says and takes the watch off of it and looks at it more.

"Does it still work?" I asked.

"No….. looks like it stopped on…. October 24th." She says and I rub my neck as I looked at it.

"Maybe Aasim could fix it." I said.

"….. no….. no I'll keep it like this." She says and look at the arm and then at the watch as she places it in her pocket.

"It's broken though." I said.

"Yea but…. I find it weird that it stopped working on my birthday." She says and I look at her.

"Very weird…. But cool." I said as we head back up the ladder.

"You remember your birthday?" She asked as we get out the elevator shaft.

"No… it just falls in the summer time, that's all I remember." I said as we walked.

"Well then today's your birthday." She says and I laugh.

"Oh really?" I asked and she nods.

"Yep, you're getting old Vi." She says.

"Yea…. Shit I'd be what…. Twenty by now?" I asked myself.

"You're fucking old." She says and I laughed.

"You're fucking old too." I said.

"Nah, I'm forever the awesome sixteen year old you fell in love with." She says and I smile as I rub her head.

"Well I'm forever the awesome seventeen year old you met." I tell her.

"Good." She says.

"Well eighteen." I say and she shoves me a bit and I smile as I look at her. We walk out the hospital as we see no walkers and I walk out first.

"How much further till we get to that store?" I asked.

"Hmm not long." She says and points to the Marsh House.

"We past it yesterday after we left the Marsh House." She says as we walk past it and after a few more steps she stops in front of a jewelry shop.

"Alright let's lift this up." I said and she stopped me.

"Can't open it that way, we tried but…. I was stupid and locked it." She says.

"You were in a heard." I said.

"He was bitten."

"You didn't know."

"….. I should have though…. You'll see why." She says and I look at her a bit and we went in through the back door. The first thing I see is a dead cop laying on the ground.

"Damn." I said as I looked to see his head bashed in and Clem pulls me back.

"Shh." She says and places her finger to her lips and I nod a bit as she hands me her gun and grabs her knife and slowly moves to the side.

"…. You see him?" I asked quietly and she nods a bit.

"His back is turned." She says and I nod as she moves out the door quietly and into the main shop. I move out a bit and watch her as I go in quietly. I see a tall walker looking at the closed door. He only had one arm and his other arm was on the gate hitting it just a bit. I follow Clem quietly. She raises her knife a bit but stops as the walker turns around and she freezes. She doesn't move as the walker gets closer to her and I grab her quickly and pull her back as I grab my gun and point it at its head and shoot. The walker dropped and Clem was crying.

"F-fuck… fuck." She says as she bends down to the body.

"Clem I…. shit." I said as I watched her.

"I couldn't…. I fucking couldn't…. he…. Fuck." She says and I go over to her as she grips the walkers shirt a bit.

"I still couldn't…… I still couldn't do it…." She says and I look at her as I see tears in her eyes.

"I still couldn't do it, years later and I still couldn't." She says and looks down more.

"It's ok." I said and rubbed her back.

"It's not…. It's not ok." She says.

"You wanna talk about it after we leave?" I asked.

"No… it's not ok cause…. If you want me to…. If you get bit…. How can I do it…. I just can't not to people I know." She says quietly and I look at her.

"Clem…. It just shows that you still remember them in the good times, who they were before they died…. It's easier when you don't know the people but it's hard when you do know them." I said.

"….. you see why I should have known he was bit?" She asked and I nodded.

"That was…. That was his watch we found…. In the hospital." She cries out and I pull her to me in a hug and I breath a bit hard. God I hate seeing her cry, I was so use to seeing her strong minded, seeing her like this just breaks my heart.

"It stopped on my birthday….. I don't want it fixed." She cries and I hold her.

"It's ok… we won't fix it, you don't want it fixed that's fine." I said as I rubbed her back.

"…. Do you want to bury him?" I asked and she nods a bit.

"Back at the house? We can get the truck and bring him to the house." I offered. I felt her nod a bit as I slowly helped her up and we walked to the door. She stops and I see her pick up a bat covered in blood and she walks ahead of me. We don't talk, not even after we get to the house she stays quiet as she grabs the keys for the truck.

"We leaving?" Minnie asked.

"No… we uh… we gotta get something important." I said and she looks at me.

"What's so damn important to waste gas for?" She asked and I glared at her.

"Just fucking deal with it, we can find more gas later."

"No what the fuck are you two doing?" She asked pissed.

"NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" I yelled and everyone looked at me as I glared at her.

"IT'S OUR BUSINESS IF YOU'RE WASTING GAS FOR WHAT?!" She yelled back.

"FOR LEES BODY!" I yelled at her and she looked at me.

"YOU'RE WASTING GAS FOR A DAMN CORPSE?!"

"I suggest you shut the fuck up now Minnie I swear to god." I said pissed but quiet but threatening as well.

"Stop fighting you two." Louis said.

"No they're wasting gas for a damn corpse oh fucking well."

"Oh fucking well my ass, we're gonna get Lee and we're gonna fucking bury him at the last house he was at, and you all are going to deal with it."

"Why should we?" She says.

"Because that man deserves a proper funeral after all the shit he's done to keep Clementine safe, that man went through hell to find her after he was bit and had his damn arm sliced off, so cut us a fucking break." I tell her.

"Bury him where you shot him." She says and shoved me and I glare at her as I shove her to the wall and point my gun under her chin.

"No, that's final."

"You really think you can shoot me?"

"I won't hesitate." I said pissed.

"Violet put the gun down." I heard Ruby say.

"NO! This bitch wants to talk about shit she doesn't understand, you guys didn't see Clem like I did…. She can do what she wants with the truck, she fixed it, she wants to bury Lee, let her do so, don't fucking question it, let the man and Clem have some fucking peace like we did." I said and glared at Minnie and she glared back at me.

"Violet move the gun away from her." I heard and looked at Clementine and glared at Minnie as I moved the gun away from her and backed away.

"We're getting Lee's body, we're going to give him a funeral, that's final." I said and went over to Clem as I grabbed the keys and headed to the truck. I saw Clementine come too as she got in the passenger side and I got in the drivers side and I drove us back to the store. I parked the truck and look at Clementine as she looked at the store. I get out and grab a bed sheet from the back and I watch as she leaves the truck and I look at her.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"Don't…. don't apologize for what Minnie said, she had no right to, you never apologize for this Clementine do you understand me?" I asked and she nods gently as I look at her.

"Clem." I tried to say but stop.

"Just never apologize for this, there's nothing for you to apologize for, because I know Minnie would do the same damn thing for Tennessee, so she can shove it." I tell her and she doesn't speak. We head into the store and I cover up Lee's body and wrap him up gently. Clementine grabs his upper body as I grab his legs and we walk out slowly and carefully, and we place him in the trucks bed gently. We get back in and I drive us back to the house that me and Clem had walked to last night and I park the truck by the shed and I help her grab the body and we place it down gently near the gated fence. I see the shovel and grab it.

"Where uh….. where do you want me to dig?" I asked and she looked around and grabbed the shovel as she started to dig at the side of the house where the flowers grew. I grabbed the extra wood we had and she handed me her knife and I began working on Lee's cross. After I finished I looked at Clementine and I took the shovel from her.

"…. Go get AJ and anyone who wants to pay their respects, I'll finish up here and have him covered if you take your time…. Don't rush." I tell her as I hand her the keys gently and she looks at me.

"Please don't rush." I tell her and she nods a bit as she heads to the truck and looks at the body before she heads out. I see the truck leave and I get to work on the grave. It took a while but I was able to get things done and I finished putting the cross behind the flowers a bit so it will look a little nice at least. I heard the truck come by and I wipe the sweat off my face and I see AJ come through the shed doors and I see he had some flowers then I see Ruby, Aasim, Omar, Willy, Louis, and then Clementine was last and I go over to her and she looks at the grave a bit.

"Sorry." She says again and I look at her and she stops me.

"Not about that…. Just…. Accept this apology." She says and I nod a bit and look to see AJ place flowers on the grave along with Willy and I see the other stand around it and I look at her.

"I'll just stand here…. If that's ok." She asked a bit quietly and I nod.

"We don't have to speak, we can just… stay silent." I said and she look at the grave again and then at my chest but not a me.

"I… I'll say a few words when they aren't around." She says and I look at her.

"Do you want me to stay?" I asked.

"Please." She says and I nod as the others leave after a few minutes and get back in the truck and me and Clem go over to the grave and I look at her.

"I don't know what to say." She says quietly and I look at her.

"…. You could talk about the good times you had…. About how safe you were with him…anything."

"…. He was a great man." She says and I nod.

"He uh… taught me how to survive…. Died to save me…. Let me live a childhood as best as he could…. Great man." She says and she looks at the grave more.

"From what you've said, he was a great man, better than any man I knew." I say and she nods and I see the watch on her wrist and I see her rub it gently.

"We can visit him whenever you want." I tell her and she nods a bit.

"Thank you." She says and taps the cross gently and leaves to the truck. I stay a bit and I look at the grave and rub my neck and I talk once I'm alone.

"Thank you for keeping Clementine safe…. She says great things about you…. I wish I could have met you when you were alive…. I um…..I know she misses you a lot, she couldn't even take you out as a walker about to eat her…. I understand though…. You were someone she looked up to." I said to the grave.

"I really hope you can see her, to you she's grown up a lot, she's not a little girl anymore… she's strong, brave, she knows a lot of things since you passed…. She's got a kid… not her own though just…. It's hard thinking AJ isn't her son, she's doing a great job at raising him….amazing job."

"She married too….. to me…. Hope that's ok." I mumble and rub my neck.

"I'll do my best to keep her safe…. I promise you…. I'll make sure she visits too."

"Violet you coming?" I heard Louis say and I sigh and look at the ground.

"See you soon Lee." I said and went to the truck and got in on the passenger side and Clem drove away from Savanna.


	24. Old Home Sweet Home

(Violets Pov)

I was looking out the window of the truck for a bit as we were leaving Savanna, we got near the edge of the town and AJ pointed something out.

"Hey look Clem isn't that a train?" He asked and I looked to see exactly that.

"Yep, that's the one we rode on to get here." She says.

"You think we should check it out?" Louis offered.

"No, but we could follow the path, I'll know when we get close to Macon that way." She says and drives on the dirt path right next to the tracks and she stops to look at the train a bit.

"You good?" AJ asked and I looked at him.

"Yea just….. remembering a lot of things." She says and starts driving, it took a few hours after we passed a train station with the tanker on its side and Clem stopped in this one railroad stopping.

"Let's stretch our legs." She says as she parks the truck and turns it off and we all get out. We see a few walkers far off in the distance and I just watch them.

"Violet you should apologize to Minnie." I heard and looked to Louis.

"No and back off on that she's lucky I haven't thrown her ass out." I said.

"She still mourning over Tenn."

"And you think I'm not? I helped raise him too you know, she's not fucking special and neither are you, so back off."

"I didn't say I was."

"No you're just wanting me to go apologize to Minnie just cause she's fucking sad, we all are and I'm not apologizing, she wanted to act like a bitch because we wanted to bury Lee."

"You have to think about it from her point." He says.

"Think about how Clementine feels, oh wait you don't think of others unless it's for your enjoyment or in your favor, I do recall you kicking Clem and AJ our after the shit Marlon pulled." I said and he looks at me.

"Don't bring that up, he's dead." Louis said.

"So is Tenn so don't bring him into this to guilt me into apologizing to Minerva." I tell him.

"I didn't….. you know what forget it." He says and leaves and I watch him.

"Violet." I heard and looked at AJ.

"Yea what's up buddy?"

"Can we talk?" He asked and I nodded as he grabbed my hand. I watched as Clem watched us and I mouthed the word talk and she nods as AJ and I walk on the train tracks a bit.

"Is Clementine ok?" He asked.

"Why ask that?" I asked him and looked down.

"Ever since the farm and… the other town, um Sa-Savanna?" He asked and I nodded.

"She doesn't seem to talk to me a lot anymore." He says and I rub his head a bit.

"She doesn't want you to deal with her… problems, but she'll talk to me if that makes things better?" I asked and he looked down.

"But I'm getting older so she can talk adult things with me now." He says.

"AJ, there are things many people don't want to talk about, they think it's a bother to others when they talk about their issues, it happened to my grandma when my grandpa passed away, she didn't talk she just cried, she couldn't talk to me because I probably wouldn't understand what she was talking about either." I said as we walked more.

"Is that why she?" He asked and I nodded slowly.

"Clementine won't do that though, I promise you that, she'll talk when she feels like it."

"Is she sad about Lee?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yea…. Yea she's sad about Lee…. But that's normal." I said.

"I heard her mumbling that she couldn't do it… what couldn't she do?" He asked and I looked at the tracks. It wasn't my place to tell, I can't tell him.

"When…. AJ answer me this." I said and we stopped as he looked up to me.

"If I got bit…. Could you shoot me?" I asked and he looked at me.

"But you won't."

"Hypothetical situation…. Um…. A what if situation." I said and he nodded a bit and thought.

"I'm not sure… Clem said that if we cut off the limb fast enough you'll be ok." He said.

"Well…. Lets say I get bit on the side, somewhere, where you can't just take a limb off….. could you?" I asked.

"….. no…. cause you're my mom, and I couldn't do it to anyone else either." He says and looks down and I get on one knee and look at him and he looks at me.

"AJ when it's someone you know, it's hard to make the toughest choice you'll ever have to do, Clementine is just remembering that tough choice she had to make all those years ago, and it's just too much." I say and he looks at me.

"What can I do to make her happy?" He asked and I saw tears in his eyes and I hug him.

"Just hug her…. Tell her you love her…. Remind her that you still care and that…. That you're always there for her when she needs you." I tell him and he nods in my shoulder.

"I don't want her to be sad anymore." He mumbled.

"People are going to be sad AJ there's nothing we can do about that but just remind her that she still has you." I tell him.

"I heard you and Louis talking." He says and I look at him.

"Are you still sad about Tenn?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yes…. I still am."

"Do…. Do you want to talk about it?" He asked and I looked at him.

"Sure… I can talk about it." I said as we sat on the ends of the track and I kicked a rock.

"Clem said people think they could have done things different if they could." He says.

"That's true… I'd try to change things if I could."

"How?" He asked.

"By getting him out quicker… or letting them get me and not him."

"But then Clem would be sad if you were gone." He says and I nod.

"Yea… sometimes I think of different ways to save Tenn but, I don't know if it would actually work and I can't go back in time to see if it would." I said and closed my eyes a bit and saw Tenns face and opened my eyes.

"He got me out of the way though." AJ said and I looked at him and nod.

"Yea… yea he did." I said and messed with my hands.

"It could have been me." He says and I look at him.

"Clem would have been sad." He says.

"Devastated actually….. She…. She probably wouldn't be here if anything happened to you." I tell him and he looks down.

"Same for you." He said.

"Tenn was a good kid…. Had his faults but was a good kid none the less……you know when Marlon said his sisters died, the first person he talked to about it was me…. He told me 'Minnie and Sophie are in a better place now, but it's sad that they're gone' his exact words." I said as I looked at my hands.

"He didn't talk much and I watched over him as best as I could." I said.

"You did good though." He says.

"Did I?" I asked as I looked at him.

"I think so, I know it's hard raising a kid in this type of world, Clementine told me I was a ha-has?"

"Hassle?" I asked and he nodded.

"She said I would be loud at the wrong times, or how she was scared when I went to sleep when I was sick, or how happy she was when I said my first word." He said and I smiled.

"What was your first word?"

"Clem."

"Ah I knew it." I said and I saw him smile a bit.

"But she still loves you even if you do act out of line sometimes but she knows why you do it, you…. You never knew a world without walkers, you never got to know your parents only through stories, it's tough on kids like you." I say and look at the ground and kick another rock.

"Clem says it can also be um….Trauma?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yep that also plays into this, trauma has to do with a lot of things…. Like when Louis and the others voted you out, they weren't use to seeing their friends or family die right in front of them." I explained and he nodded.

"But you did." He said.

"Yea…. But…. That was before all this, I learned to cope with what happened to me before all this…. I'm not saying I'm ok with what happened but… another part of me says it's ok." I said and rubbed my neck.

"Did you think it was ok for me to shoot Marlon?" He asked quietly and I pulled him to me and rubbed his back.

"Part of me says yes but another part says no…. Marlon had it tough, he was leading a group of kids even though he was a kid too… we lost so many and when the raiders talk to him they took advantage of the fact that he was a kid…. Scared and didn't know what to do." I said.

"But he still didn't have to kill Brody that was wrong, and he didn't have to trade the twins either….. but what was he suppose to do? And when he got caught, it just became to much for him."

"But why do you think I was right for shooting him?" He asked.

"….. He killed one of our own…. He gave away our own, he was pointing a gun at all of us and didn't even lower his gun when I stepped up to protect Clementine…. He might have shot me if he had the chance but we won't know…. And you thought he was a monster right?" I asked.

"Yea but he wasn't."

"In your mind you thought he was though, but I understand why you'd think that, he was going to hurt the only family you had left, he was a danger even when Clem took the gun from him and threw it he could have done many things had you not grabbed it….. lots of bad things could have happened in that moment if we all just waited a bit." I explained as best as I could.

"What about when you killed Abel?"

"Do you think I'm a monster for that?" I asked.

"…. I don't know." He said quietly.

"If you think I am that's fine to say so but do you know why I killed him?" I asked.

"Cause He was bad?"

"Because he asked me too…. He didn't want to turn and I know that it would have been wrong to just do that to him, he gave us all the information we needed so I returned the favor by listening to his request."

"But you still killed him."

"Yea….. Yea I did…. They call that a mercy kill." I said and looked at him.

"So if people ask to die it's ok?" He asked.

"That's what makes things confusing, sometimes it's not ok, in this world but sometimes it's ok…. It's a tough choice to make and I'm sorry I can't give you a direct answer for that." I apologized.

"It's ok, I understand." He said.

"When I asked you…. About me being bit…. That's a mercy kill, I don't want to be a walker, no one does…. That's the right time to do it if there really isn't a chance to save them, and you know there isn't a chance to save them in that particular situation." I try and explain.

"Ok…. At least I know about that part." He says and I nod a bit.

"I'm not a good um teacher when it comes to… explaining thing like this." I told him.

"It's ok, you try, Clem tries, you all try, you're still kids yourself." He says and I chuckle at that.

"Well not all of us are kids anymore." I said.

"Oh?"

"Yea.. years go on AJ, we grow older we become adults, you can't stop aging." I said and he nodded.

"How Old am I?" He asked and I thought.

"Well Clem said you were five when we met you, then your birthday came around so you were six, then a year passed so seven…. You're seven years old." I say and he smiles up at me.

"How Old are you?" He asked and I laughed.

"I am twenty years old, since Clementine deemed that today was my birthday." I joked and he looked at me.

"So you could be nineteen?" He asked after counting a bit and I nod.

"I could be yes." I said and smile.

"What about Louis?"

"He's nineteen."

"How…. How old was Tenn?" He asked.

"….. thirteen…..." I said and kept quiet. A cool breeze came through and I closed my eye a bit and take a breath I open my eyes and look at AJ who copied me and I smiled.

"I'm sorry." He said and I looked at him.

"Why are you sorry?" I asked.

"About not saving Tenn…. About…. Killing Marlon….. I'm sorry." He says and I look at him.

"Don't be, this world is tough on a kid." I said and I look at Clementine as she waved us over and I help AJ up and we walk back to her.

"We're gonna go down that path for a few more miles before we have to get gas again, we should hit a motel before then." She said and placed her hands on her hips and I took her hat off my head and put it on her head and she looks at me.

"You're burning up." I said and tapped her nose.

"Bah." She mumbled and I smiled as I got in the drivers side and she sat in the truck with me along with Ruby and I began driving.

"So you've been here before?" Ruby asked and Clementine nodded.

"We're gonna reach a Motor Inn, it's where I lived the first three months when all this started…. Fuck raiders might be living there for all I know." She says and hits the dashboard and Ruby stops her.

"Hey it's fine we can stop before we reach it and check it out." She says and I look at Clementine.

"I'll check it out." She says.

"I'll go with." I tell her.

"No you stay and watch AJ….. fuck." She said and grabs her walkie and closes her eyes and opens the back window.

"AJ in my bag is another walkie hand it to me." I hear and I look at her.

"When the hell did you?" I asked.

"Back at the Marsh House it was that mans, shit I wanted to break it but good thing I didn't."

"I didn't even see you grab it."

"That's how sneaky I am." She says and AJ hands it to her and she hands it to ruby.

"Put it on channel one, I'll go to the Motor Inn and radio you guys if I know it's safe, if not I'll head back." She says.

"You will talk to us about heading back." I tell her and look at her ash she nods.

"I will radio you guys about me coming back." She says and I nod.

"Damn right." I mumbled as I drove and Louis poked his head through.

"What's the plan?" He asked.

"Clem is gonna go check the Motor Inn out, she's going to radio us if it's safe….. Clem if…. If you get caught you know how to use code on those things?" I asked and she nodded.

"I'll do two quick beeps and one long beep if I feel like I'm in danger so do not come." She says.

"No, I will." I tell her.

"No you won't, you keep AJ safe and drive the hell out of this area."

"Clem." Louis said and she just looked at the road.

"Louis can drive them out, I can come to you." I say.

"No, that's final." She says and I stop the truck and look at her.

"Don't fight please." Ruby says.

"I'm…. we aren't fighting we're making a plan that we all can agree on." I say and look at Clem.

"You're not coming to get me."

"I'm not letting you stay with fucked up raiders again Clementine." I tell her and she looks at me.

"I'll be fine."

"For fuck sake Clem." I say and I saw Louis move and Minnie pokes her head through.

"Clem, Violet doesn't want you to get hurt again, ok? We can get AJ out of here if you want but we aren't going to leave you to…. Deal with that again." She says her voice going quiet at the end and I looked at her then Clementine.

"And I don't want Violet to deal with them, now, you will not come to get me, you will get everyone out of this area, do you understand me." She says and I look at her.

"No."

"Violet."

"No, Clementine…. I'm not going to listen to you this time for this plan." I said.

"Ok you two stop this now, how about I come get you?" Minerva offered.

"No." We both said and I looked away and rubbed my face.

"For fuck sake Violet."

"Clem…. Just let me do this." I tell her.

"Fine…. Whatever." She says and looks away from me. I look at her a bit and sigh as I drive again, it was around night time when we got to a stopping point and Clem gets out the truck and starts walking before I can shut the truck off.

"Fucking hell." I mumbled as I looked at the radio in Ruby's hands.

"Vi."

"Don't…. just….. just tell me if she radios." I said and got out the truck and closed the door and closed my eyes a bit. Hours had passed an we didn't hear anything and I watched as ruby looked at me and then the radio.

"Is Clementine ok?" AJ asked.

"She's fine." Louis said and I clenched my fists a bit. Time ticked on by and still no word from Clementine and I sat in the back of the truck with AJ. Then I heard the radio.

"It's clear bring the truck around." I hear Clem say and I breath a bit easier as we all get in. I drive ahead for a few minutes and get to the motel and see Clem waving as I park the truck. I see arrows in the makeshift walls, and bullet holes too.

"Welcome to the Motor Inn I'm your guide Clementine." She says and bows and I look at her.

"Sorry just… wanted a laugh." She says and I hug her gently and we help get everything set up. We fix the wall a bit and the other grab some wood to start a fire for food.

"You lived here?" AJ asked and she nodded.

"Yep… actually." She says and goes into one of the rooms and comes back out with a container and hands it to AJ.

"What's that?" Louis asked.

"Chalk." She says.

"Chalk?"

"Yep, watch." She says and grabbed a piece and drew on the ground and AJ's eyes light up as he grabs some chalk and draws.

"How much farther are we going?" Aasim asked and Clem pulled out a map and pointed to Atlanta.

"My home is around here we can stop there and rest for a while and then we can head further down south or out west." She says and looks at the map.

"Sounds like a plan." Louis says.

"It's all we got for right now." She says and I nod a bit.

"What else is out there?" Louis asked and Clem rubbed her arm and sighed.

"There's a farm near here." She says quietly.

"Shouldn't we stay there?" Louis asked.

"No."

"Why?" Minnie asked.

"Cannibals." I say and she looked at me and so did Clem.

"What? I listen to your stories on your drunk nights." I said and Clementine laughed lightly.

"I do ramble hu?" She asked and I rubbed her back.

"You drink?" Minnie asked while chuckling.

"Yep, smoked too, but I learned to cut that back." She says as she lays back on the ground and looked at the sky.

"I've got to hear about this." Minnie says and I look at her.

"I was eleven when I had my first sip of alcohol with Nick…. We got separated from his uncle Pete at the river when we saw bodies all over the place…. Pete called it fübar." She says as she puts her hands behind her head.

"Nicest, meanest bastard we ever knew…. Never really got to see his mean side… he ended up dead a few miles from the cabin, about a days run from it actually." She says.

"Damn." Minnie says.

"Yea…. My second sip was after AJ was born, we had gotten to this…. Electric tower or whatever…. Boxes that people say not to sit on…… anyway, Bonnie has some rum and it was Luke's birthday so they drank and Jane offered it to me…. Kenny got mad but….anyway it tasted bad to me so I coughed when I drank it."

"When did you do heavy drinking?" Minnie asked.

"After AJ was taken." She says and closes her eyes.


	25. Take Us Back

(Violets Pov)

-One Day-

We walked into the town and got into a drug store, Clementine said that this belonged to Lees family and that the last time she was here was years ago.

"You good to go?" I asked as she looked around the drug store a bit.

"No…. not really." She says and I come up to her as she looks at the cane and picks it up.

"Lee told me that his dad would walk around with this thing a lot." She says.

"Was he sick?" I asked and she chuckled.

"No…. Lee said this cane is better than any guard dog ever was." She said and gripped it a bit and I looked at her.

"I'm surprised this building is still standing." I heard ruby say as she came out the back room.

"Yea." Clem said quietly and the others were outside and I looked to them.

"Haven't seen walkers in a while, besides the few in here….. are they dying off now?" I heard Clem ask herself and I watched her.

"Kinda hard for the living dead to be dying off." Minnie comments as she pokes her head from the window.

"Well, skeletons can't walk around." I said.

"Ok… you have a point." She said.

"Maybe the walkers are finally going away on their own…. But if people just die and turn…. You can't stop it." Clem said and I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Clem look." We heard and saw AJ come out with a remote.

"Haha a tv remote." Louis chuckled and Clem grabbed it gently then went to the back room and I followed her as she set it in the desk.

"I'm gonna guess it belongs there." I said and she nods.

"Yep…was Lee's dads." She says and grabbed the first aid kit.

"You know I cut my finger on this desk…. Didn't know that would be the least of my issues at the time." She says and I nod.

"Yea."

"You ok?" She asked as she looked at me.

"I'm fine." I say and she sits on the desk. I look to the side a bit and look around more.

"You sure?" She asked and I nod.

"You know…. I can tell when you lie." She says.

"Oh? And how's that?" I asked as I came up to her and she crossed her arms.

"You look away from me, can't look me in the eye." She says and laughed a bit and I look at her.

"Eye jokes…. Sorry gotta find some humor with this." She said and pointed to her damaged eye and I look down a bit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…. I didn't get to you in time." I said.

"You don't need to apologize for that, and don't try to say 'oh but if I got to you in time it wouldn't have happened' bullshit." She says in a mock tone and I looked at her.

"But."

"Nope, it would happen even if you came an hour after the kidnapping, trust me I can't keep my mouth shut with people who betray me." She says and I rub my neck.

"Now, if you don't want to talk that's fine, but don't lie and tell me you're ok when you aren't." She says. I look around to make sure we were completely alone and I look at her.

"It's just…. You getting hurt and then Tenn dying…..it's…. it's just…. I feel." I said and couldn't talk.

"You feel like you failed at protecting us?" She asked and I nod a bit.

"You know, I felt the same way with AJ…when he was taken, felt like shit, kept beating myself up about it…. Last thing he saw me do was spit in David's face and be forced out the group as he called my name." She said.

"Was that his first word?" I asked and she nods.

"Yea…. Sad yet happy day for me." She says and I nod a bit.

"Don't beat yourself up on this Vi, these things happen, people get injured, people die….. survivors guilt is a bitch." She says and I chuckle gently.

"Yea… you know that way more than me." I said.

"Technically no, I've had less people die around me than you guys…. Thirty-four kids Ruby said?" She asked.

"Damn that many?" I asked.

"I think so…. Plus y'all were kids and you knew these other kids for years, before the apocalypse…… it's hard." She says and I look at her and rub my neck.

"You've done what you could do, there's nothing else that you can do now but just tell stories of them and just remember them." She says and I nod again.

"Sorry if it's not the best advice, never really had to tell anyone about this because I've felt with it on my own, it doesn't work for everyone just myself." She said quietly and I look at her.

"It's ok… thanks." I said and she nods herself and we all get out the pharmacy.

"Alright so there's nothing left here." Aasim said and I nod a bit as we head back to the truck. We all got in and Clementine started to drive a bit.

"We should pass Hershals farm in a bit then after that my old home." She says to me and I just watch the road.

"So we're gonna see where you lived?" AJ asked and I watched as Clementine nodded.

"Yep, if it's not taken over yet or destroyed." She says as she drives. I close my eyes for a bit and look out the window.

"You ok Violet?" I heard and looked at AJ and rubbed his head.

"Yep, I'm fine." I tell him and he nods and I rub his head a bit.

"Why am I so sleepy?" He asked and I chuckled.

"It's cause violet is running your head, sometimes that can put people to sleep." Clem answers and I nod as he looked at me.

"Yea, when I was really young and my mom didn't have to work so much she'd rub my head as I laid my head in her lap….. helped me sleep a lot." I said and closed my eyes remembering the time I had with my mom.

"Was she nice? Your mom?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yea She was…. She just got stressed out a lot as I got older and my dad kept drinking and never looked for a job…. After what happened to my grandma she just… snapped I guess." I said and looked to the road.

"So why don't you like her?" He asked and I looked at him.

"I… I don't hate her I never did…. I just…. She never understood what was going on with me… she probably thought I…. I don't know, I just….She Probably hated me when I didn't save her mom…. I didn't call the ambulance or anything to at least give her a chance to live but…. Even I don't know why I didn't." I said and I stopped rubbing his head a bit.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Don't be… I mean I didn't have a good life even after the walkers, I got bullied cause I lived in a trailer park, didn't have New fashionable clothes, didn't have friends and so on." I said.

"Who cared about clothes that much?" AJ asked and me and Clem both laughed.

"Best person to ask is Louis." I said and opened the back window.

"Hey Louis why did people care so much about clothes before walkers came?" AJ asked.

"Well people cared about looking good." He said.

"Violet didn't seem to care."

"That's cause she's violet." He said.

"That makes no sense at all." AJ said confused and I chuckled.

"He means I didn't care what I wore, I was happy to have whatever I got, I'd work for things unlike most kids at my school, I'd take some odd jobs at my trailer park, mowing lawns, giving Mrs. Martin and her wife their groceries, helping them in their garden, just small things." I said and he looked at me.

"So you had a job?" He asked.

"Well not a real job I was about your age when I did the small tasks." I said.

"What's mowing lawns?" He asked.

"When the grass gets to tall people take these machines with blades and cut the grass." Aasim explained.

"So you cut grass?" He asked me and I nod.

"Yea, it sounds weird to you but back before walkers were around people had to cut their grass, unless it was winter then shoveling snow." I said.

"Did you shovel snow?" He asked.

"Nope couldn't, we had gravel…. Small rocks, as our driveways." I tried to explain.

"I actually liked to shovel snow with my dad." Clem says.

"Why? You guys are weird." He said and we laughed a bit.

"Because we used the snow to make snowmen and forts and we'd have snowball fights." Clem said and I nodded.

"I miss that, use to have snowball fights with the older kids in the neighborhood, I'd win though." I said.

"Liar." Louis said.

"It's true though, I was so small and quiet you'd never find me." I said.

"You were small?" AJ asked and I nodded.

"Oh yea, my family would always talk about it as if I'd stay small forever, actually I was shorter than you when I was eight." I said.

"But you're so tall now."

"Growth spurt, happened when I got into Ericsson's." I said.

"Yea I remember you being small, it was adorable." Ruby said.

"I oughta punch you." I said.

"Hey now, you were pretty tiny, just imagine how I felt when I had a crush on you." Minnie said.

"You're a fricken giant."

"And you're a midget compared to me." She says.

"Bah." I mumbled and Clem laughed a bit.

"God actually AJ you're about as tall as I was when I was eight, maybe a few inches taller." She says.

"Awww tiny Clementine." Louis said and she smiled a bit.

"Oh man I remember when people judged me based on my size, if I could have I could have busted someone's knee caps if I was violent at that age." She said and I chuckled a bit.

"I'm still gonna judge you based on your size now." Louis said.

"Trust me, don't, you know I can handle myself easily." She said and I smiled at her.

"Just imagine it though, a tiny kid coming at you with a crowbar or bat, that's fucking funny till you get hit with the said item." I said and we all laughed.

"Shit I remember chasing the home EC teacher with a barbecue fork, that's scary." Ruby said.

"When I heard about that I avoided you." Minnie said.

"Tiny red head with giant fork beware." Ruby said and I chuckled.

"So why did you get sent to the school?" AJ asked them and they stayed a bit quiet.

"Sorry I shouldn't have-." But he was cut off.

"No it's fine." Aasim said and rubbed his neck.

"I use to set things on fire…. A lot." He said.

"Wait I thought that was Mitch?" Clem asked.

"No he made bombs, I lit things on fire, boxes, sticks, anything I wanted to." He said.

"I had major anger issues…. Beat a kid up at my old school." Ruby said.

"I…. I threatened a kid at my school once." Omar said and even I looked at him.

"Holy hell." I said and he nodded.

"What about Tenn?" AJ asked.

"He…. He got in trouble cause of me." Minnie said.

"What did you do?"

"I… one of our family members came after Sophie…. Tried to…. Do bad things to her…. So I uh…. Beat him to a pulp, and I wasn't a violet child trust me I wasn't….. but what they tried to do I just snapped and…. They were sent to the hospital in a coma….. Sophie didn't want to leave me and Tenn….. he saw it but wouldn't talk, so they sent all of us there…. It was either Ericsson's or juvenile detention." She said and I looked at her.

"Wow." AJ said and he looked at Louis.

"What about you?" He asked.

"Mine was a stupid reason to begin with." He said quietly.

"Stupid?"

"I um…. I got my parents divorced." He said."Divorced?" AJ asked.

"It's what happens when married people split up." I said.

"You and Clem won't do that will you?" He asked a bit scared and Clem rubbed his head.

"Nah, till death do us part." She says and I nod.

"Right, ain't nothing gonna split us up." I said.

"Good, I like you two as my moms." He said and I chuckled.

"We can still be your mom's if you want." I said.

"But won't it be weird if you two split and I still call you mom?" He asked.

"Well no, people in my family split up but they were best friends after they did, it's not always a bad thing." I said.

"So you'd be Clem's best friend?" He asked and I nod.

"Well second best friend, you'd still be her number one." I said and I looked at Clementine as she drove more.

"What does, till death do you part mean?" He asked and I rubbed my neck.

"Well… um." I tried to say something but couldn't.

"It's…. it's when….. ok, if I were to pass away, Clem would no longer be married to me since I'm gone." I said.

"I wouldn't find anyone else though." She says quietly and I look at her.

"When my grandpa passed away my grandma never found anyone like him, she…. She got really sad when he died…. Some people don't look for anyone else after their uh… partner passed on." I explained and he looked at me then Clem.

"You're not gonna shoot yourselves are you?" He asked.

"NO!" I yelled a bit and cover my mouth and shake my head.

"Sorry… no, that's not…. That's what my grandma did but not everyone does that AJ… some people do move on and find another person, some don't they stay alone for the rest of their life…. And some pass away after their partner cause of… broken hearts." I said and looked down a bit.

"So Clem won't go away if you pass away?" He asked.

"No she's not." I said. I looked over to Clementine as she drove a bit more and then at AJ and he nodded.

"We're almost to the farm." She says as we get to the country side. I look at the dead crops that were wilting from not being farmed for years and also some areas were really overgrown but also patches of dead here and there. There was a popping sound and the truck swerved a bit and Clem grabbed the wheel tightly as I held AJ back into his seat as the truck stopped.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" She yelled as she got out and so did I and we see two of the tires flat and she kicked the truck.

"Fucking useless junk." She says and rub her head.

"Hey we can walk." Louis suggested.

"That's not…. Louis that's not the fucking issue here." She says and I come over to her and looked to the road a bit.

Well don't kick the truck you're gonna break your toe." He said.

"FUCK MY TOE I DON'T GIVE A DAMN!" She yelled and I covered her mouth as I saw some walkers coming out the field and I point over to them and we all keep quiet. The walkers had left without noticing us and I let Clem's mouth go and I sighed a bit and looked at AJ who had his gun drawn out.

"It's ok little dude." Louis said and AJ lowered his gun and I rubbed my face a bit as Clem glared at the truck a bit.

"Let's just keep going." She said and grabbed her bag and handed AJ his. We all grabbed our stuff and I looked at her as we began walking.

"Alright to ease the tension let's play a game." Louis said and AJ looked excited.

"What kind of game?" He asked.

"I spy." Louis said.

"Awww that's lame, Clementine and I played that a lot already." He said and I chuckled a bit and looked at Clementine as she walked ahead of us. I go up to her and take her hand and she looks at me.

"Wanna talk while we can?" I asked.

"Not really." She says and I look at her.

"I'm fine with that." I said as we walked more.

"It's just…..I hate it when things just don't go as planned." She says.

"Well that happens a lot."

"I know but…. For once can't things just be smooth sailing just for a bit? I mean can't we get a god damn break." She says and I hold her hand a bit tighter.

"We will one day." I say and she looks at the road in front of us, it took us a while till we passed this Hershel's farm, the building looked run down but Clementine didn't stop so we just kept going. It was a day later that we finally reached a neighborhood area close to Atlanta when Clem looked around a bit.

"Which way do we go?" AJ asked as Clem looked around more.

"We head strait down this road and make a left." She says and we followed her a bit. I heard walkers but couldn't see them so I looked around a bit more and so did everyone else.

"They're probably in the woods over the fences, don't worry." Clem said.

"Don't worry she says." Minnie mutters and I was about to say something till I saw Clem stop at one house. We all come up to her as she walked through the back gate.

"So we're taking a break?" Louis asked.

"Yea we can take a break." She says and she looks at the wooden fences and then up and I follow her eyes and see a tree house.

"Hu, nice treehouse." I said.

"Yea." She says quietly.

"Hey there's a body in the house." We heard Omar day and Clem nods.

"Alright we can bury it over here." She says and points by the tree as she goes to the shed and grabbed a shovel.

"Hu, surprised you knew it was in there." Minnie said and Clem laughed.

"I should know where my dad kept his tools." She says as she heads to the tree and starts digging.

"Wait this is your old home?" Louis asked.

"Well yea, I said we could stop here on our way in Georgia." She says and I help her dig.

"Shit I.." Minnie tried to say but I looked at her and shook my head no. Me and her worked on the grave as Omar and Aasim brought the body over and Clem helped them place it in the grave. I covered the body up and once I was done I looked at Clem who picked up an old tea set.

"So you did have tea party's." I joked and she smiles and nods.

"Oh yea, can you blame me though?" She asked.

"No not really." I said.

"I heard Lee say he'd fill one of these cups up with bourbon if he had any…. I was up there." She said and pointed at the treehouse.

"He called out asking if anyone was here but I kept quiet." She said and looked around a bit.

"That was smart though, you didn't know him at the time." I said.

"And yet I stayed with him." She says as she looks at the treehouse.

"I wonder." She says and climbs up the ladders and up onto the platform and I follow her up it as the others look around a bit.

"Hah I knew it." She said as she came out of the small door. I see her with a box and she opened it up and showed me what was inside.

"This is what my parents looked like." She said handing me the photo of her mom and dad, along with her when she was younger.

"Aww how old were you?" I asked as we sat on the platform and leaned against the treehouse a bit.

"I was around…. Seven, no… that was when I turned eight, we had just gotten back from my dads company softball game." She said and I chuckled as I saw Clem with a missing tooth smiling into the camera.

"Here's another one." She said and handed me an older photo, her mom was in a hospital gown and her dad was smiling like crazy as he held something in his arms.

"That's when I was born." She said and I smiled.

"Damn." I muttered and she showed me more pictures.

"These are just copies I wanted to have, the real ones are inside the house." She says as we look at all the photos.

"What's this one?" I asked and it said Clementines first photo on the back.

"My mom let me take pictures, apparently it was the first one I took." She says, it was a bit blurry and something black covered some parts of the photo.

"What was it?" I asked.

"A crow, I was able to get real close to it but when it flew at me I fell back while taking the picture." She says and laughed a bit.

"You wanna take these with you?" I asked and she looked at the photos and grabbed one of them. It was her parents, her mom in a white dress and her dad in a tux.

"Just this one, the rest can stay." She says and she puts it in her bag. It was starting to get dark now and I saw Clem look at the sky a bit.

"I use to come out here at night with my dad and he had this telescope and we'd look at the stars and he'd tried to tell me about them but I didn't listen to him…. I don't think he noticed though." She says and I rub her back a bit.

"Vi, Clem, Omar is getting dinner ready." Ruby says.

"Alright." I reply back and I look at Clementine as she moves a bit and heads in and opens the treehouse door for me.

"Come in." She says and I follow her in and look around. There's flowers painted on the walls, and drawing of all kinds, a few books here and there but they looked damage from the rain, there was a few toys too.

"AJ could use this." She says as she grabs some papers and colored pencils and crayons along with a few coloring books from her box.

"I think he'd like that a lot." I said and she looked around.

"God I remember when this use to be so big." She said as she sat down and I chuckled a bit.

"Well judging by your pictures you were pretty tiny." I said and she punched me playfully and I laughed as I rubbed my arm.

"Tiny But can patch a punch." I said and she nods.

"Damn right." She says. We stayed in silent for a few minutes before she comes over to me and kisses me a bit. I kiss her her back and placed both my hands on her cheeks as we pulled back a bit and I looked at her.

"You good?" I asked and she nods a bit.

"Yea I'm good." She says and kisses me again and I kiss her back. It was a few minutes before we were interrupted.

"Hey you two, dinners ready." Louis says and I sigh as I help Clementine out the treehouse and we climbed down. Clem have AJ the coloring items and I watches as his eyes went wide as he began to color. I smiled and grabbed his food and sat next to him so I made sure he ate as he colored.

"So, where to after this?" Minnie asked and Clem grabbed a map.

"We cut through Atlanta if we can, we have to scout ahead first to see if I can find mother car, though their batteries are most likely dead by now." She says and I look at her as she scratches her head.

"I'll scout ahead, you guys stay here." She says.

"I'll come with." I tell her and she nods a bit. We all ate a bit and AJ would show Clem his new drawings and I'd draw a bit too.

"This is a nice home Clem…. Well considering." Louis said and she nods.

"Yea…. You know I'm surprised you guys didn't true breaking a window." She says as she eats her soup and I laughed.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"When all this started people were robbing homes…. Our back door was open but they're to stupid to try that." She says and I laugh a bit more.

"It can't be that funny." Minnie says.

"It is though, come on people running from their homes during an emergency who has time to lock doors?" I asked and she looked at me.

"Alright, Yea you've got me on that." She says and I nod. A few hours pass and we all head inside and Clem moves a bookshelf from the stairs and I help her a bit.

"There's three rooms up the stairs, so you guys can take those." She says to the rest and I look at her as the others head up.

"You're not sleeping in your room?" I asked her.

"Nah, it's fine though…. Don't need you seeing it anyway." She says and I smirk.

"Oooh is it really girly?" I asked.

"Oh yea, you'll see lots of girly things in there." She says and I chuckle as we go sit on the couch. AJ comes over to us and sits in the recliner and I grab his blanket from his bag. He yawns a bit as he slowly falls asleep and I tuck him in so he stays warm for tonight.

"Your motherly side is showing again." She says and I look at her and I turn red as I go sit next to her.

"Can't help it honestly." I said and she nods.

"Trust me when AJ was smaller I would coddle him when I could, tried to be a good mother figure for him."

"Hey now, you're a great mom." I said and she nods a bit.

"Ya think?" She asked and I nod and kiss her cheek and she looks at me.

"I know." I tell her and she nods a bit and looks around her home a bit. I look to the front door and see a picture on the wall that had tiny hand prints and the name Clementine was written on the paper too. She got up and grabbed it and came back over to me as she looked at the painting.

"You were so small when all this started." I said and she nods.

"Small and scared…. I didn't want to leave this place at all…. God I probably would have died here if Lee didn't convince me to go." She says quietly and I pull her to me so her head is on my shoulder and I feel her breath a bit, a few tears hitting my shoulder but I didn't care.

"It's ok." I tell her and she grips my shirt a bit. I heard her mumble a bit and I chuckled.

"Repeat that? Couldn't hear ya darling." I said and she looks at me a bit.

"Fucking country accent." She says and I laugh more.

"I bet you got an accent to, just afraid to show it." I said and she looks at me and smiles.

"Maybe, maybe not, grew up with a lot of people." She says and I nod.

"Yea you're right." I said and she put her head back by my neck and I felt her kiss my jaw a bit and I rubbed her head gently.

"So, the main question is, do you really want to go or do you want to stay here?" I asked her and she gripped my shirt again.

"As much as I want to stay here I don't think anyone else would want to." She says.

"Well you know AJ and I would stay with you." I say.

"Yea But would you want to stay here for the rest of your life?" She asked and I nod.

"Hey lets be honest here, we could make a small community here, we can each have our own homes, build a nice place here." I say trying to show the good side of this.

"And then people will come and take it from us." She said.

"No we won't let that happen, Willy can place bombs, we have guns and we can find more, we can make it work." I said and she moves closer to me.

"It won't work…. People will still try to take, Hell I don't even know if we got those assholes off our trail but driving didn't help." She says and I rub her head.

"Clem… you need to rest." I tell her and she nods.

"I will in a bit." She says and kisses my neck again and I move a bit and she looks up at me. I kiss her gently and I grab our blanket and I cover her up as she lays on top of me and I lay back on the couch. I hold her waist a bit and close my eyes as we fall asleep.


	26. Meet Me In Dallas

(Violets Pov)

I woke up to the sound of movements and was about to say something till a hand covered my mouth. My eyes shoot open and I look up to see Clem looking out the back door as she placed a finger to her lips telling me to be quiet. I slowly move my head to the side and see some movement by the doors and kept quiet. I looked to the side to see AJ holding his small knife near him and Clem slowly moved off me. I grabbed my gun and she shook her head no as she pointed to her knife and I nod as I grab mine.

"Shh." AJ said quietly and I nod as we head to the door and I hear some talking. Walkers don't talk.

"Those fucking brats have to be here somewhere." I heard as we kept ourself hidden and they opened the door a bit and I look at Clem as they don't see us.

"Shut up if they're in this house they're gonna hear us you moron." The guy whispered and I looked at Clem who motioned to the two people and I nod as we creep up on them. The floor squeaks a bit and I freeze and look up to see the two men pointing their guns at me one going off and hitting me in the shoulder.

"Fuck." I groaned and heard movement up their stairs and Clementine grabbed one of the men and stabbed him and I grabbed my knife and killed the other man.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I mumbled as u backed up a bit and held my shoulder. I felt pressure on it and saw Clem looking at me as she put pressure on my shoulder and I nod.

"I'm fine, I'm fine nothing bad." I said and groaned a bit as I saw a lot of blood.

"Jesus fuck Vi." I heard and looked to see Ruby come running to me and I groaned as she put more pressure on my shoulder.

"Fuck that hurts Ruby." I said and Clem covered my mouth and I heard more people talking and I closed my eyes tightly from the pain.

"The fuck did they go?" I heard and we all kept quiet as they leave the back yard and I felt more pressure on my shoulder and I groaned a bit.

"It won't stop bleeding." Ruby says.

"Fuck just stop." I said and Clem covered my mouth again.

"Shhh there's more outside." She whispers and I nod a bit, sweat falling from my face a bit and I tried to calm my breathing. God I was an idiot.

"Is violet ok?" I heard Louis ask and I glared at him but I felt ruby move her hands away and I look to see a lot of blood and I lean my head back.

"Fuck, AJ get my med kit." Ruby says and she takes her jacket off and puts it to my shoulder and I look out the back doors and see another person walking by.

"We already checked there you idiot." The man said.

"Well Joan said to check more than once." I heard and looked at Clem who was glaring a bit at the door.

"It's fine they probably went into the damn city where's the two new guys?" I heard and looked at the bodies on the ground and then back at Clementine.

"Get Violet upstairs I'll stay and watch the back door incase they come through." Clem says and I look at her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I mumbled and AJ came down with the kit and ruby moved the jacket and I saw less blood than she moved the shoulder of my shirt down and looks at the wound.

"The hell did he shoot you with." She mumbled and I shrugged and hissed a bit at the pain. I looked at Clementine a bit as she watched the window and I watched too, just to distract myself from the pain. Plus I did not want to see how bad the injury was.

"Shit ok it looks fine but god damn it be careful when moving it." Ruby says hushed and a bit scared as she looked through the window a bit and I nod.

"Ok I'll try." I mumbled as I heard a vehicle go and Clem got up and looked out the window that looks out into the road.

"I don't see anyone." She says and comes back over.

"I'll head out and look, you guys please stay quiet ok?" She asked and I nod my head a bit as ruby finished patching me up and I grab Clem's hand and she looks at me.

"Take someone with you." I said.

"I'll go." Minnie says and I look at her and nod a bit as her and Clementine leave the house quietly. I kept an ear out for them and listened a bit. It was a few minutes before they both came back and Clem sat next to me.

"There's two people left a woman and a man." Minnie said.

"Joan and cliff." Clem says quietly.

"You know them?" Louis asked.

"They're….. they were the leaders of the new frontier, cliff worked in the vegetation and food section while Joan…. They're just not to be trusted." She says.

"Wait I thought you said that, that David guy was in charge." Omar asked.

"There were three leaders, David worked security, Joan worked with navigation basically, and cliff was in charge of food, look I don't know much all I know is that the last time I saw them they killed someone in my group and somehow that bitch is still alive." She says pissed and I look at her.

"I don't think they're gonna leave anytime soon." I said and she looked at me and I looked at the bodies and turned away.

"Jesus." Louis says and I look at him.

"Fuck I thought we were done with this shit." He says and I glare at him.

"And what the fuck were we supposed to do?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Oh I don't know stay quiet." He says and I got pissed.

"Oh brilliant fucking idea, stay quiet on a damn couch as they look through the damn house and fucking see us, Louis anything else you want to add?" I asked as he glared at me and I glared back and I slowly got up.

"Quit it you two, let's just get violet up the stairs and stay the fuck quiet." Ruby says and I look at her and nod a bit as we grab our things quietly and we slowly head up the stairs. We get into one room and it looks really girly and I look at Clementine as she looks out the window.

"Fuck they have more people than I though." She says and I go over to her and peak out the window a bit and see a few vehicles coming from the north side of the road and I move back a bit and sit against the wall.

"Shit we can't stay." I said.

"You're injured." Ruby says.

"We lay low and keep quiet." I said and I look at Clementine a bit as she still looks out the window.

"The fence, if we can get over the fence we'll be able to hit the highway to Atlanta, find a vehicle that's good and head west instead of south." She says and I nod.

"I'll deal with that plan." I said and got up slowly and she pushed me back down and looked at me.

"You're not gonna like this but…. That's what you guys will be doing." She says and I look at her.

"I'll go out and distract Joan, you guys head out over the fence while I have her distracted, head to Atlanta and find a vehicle and head west." She says and hands Aasim the map.

"What about you?" AJ said.

"I'll head east and get them off your trail." She says.

"The hell you will." I said.

"Vi listen to me Joan… she hates my guts trust me she'll be more focused on me than you guys, so do this for me, no arguing." She says.

"But."

"No arguing." She says again and I look at her.

"You guys head to my parents room, there's a rope in there under the bed use that to climb out the window." She says and they nod as they leave. I look at Clementine as she checks her weapon and I stand up slowly.

"I'm gonna go with you." I said.

"No you aren't, Ruby needs to keep an eye on your shoulder for right now." She says and looks at me and sighs a bit.

"We'll meet up in Dallas." She says.

"Fucking Texas? Really?" I asked and she looked at me.

"Yes really, now do as I say."

"Clem no, I can't let you go alone." I said and she looks at me more and poked my shoulder and I hissed a bit.

"You are gonna go West with everyone, watch AJ ok?" She asked and before I could stop her she places her hat on my head and kisses me then runs off and closes the door.

"God fucking damn it." I said as I opened the door fast and was grabbed by Minnie.

"Let's go now."

"Not until."

"Shut it violet she told me to stop you and I'm not gonna let you get hurt, Clem knows what she's doing now let's fucking go." She says and I look at her then at the stairs and I grip my hand into a fist.

"She said to meet her up in Dallas, that's where we head." I said and Minnie nods as we leave. She helped me down the rope a bit as she lowered me down after I was off she came down and I heard someone.

"HEY JOAN, YA MISS ME?!" I heard Clem yell and Minnie shoved me.

"Fucking go." She says and shoved me to a wooden plank that was pride open and I go through it carefully and I heard some vehicles drive off and a few gun shots.

"She's fine vi, go." Minnie says and we run into the woods. As we ran down I looked and saw a police car that was busted up and an officers body near it, he looked long dead.

"There's the road, you think you can go up that hill?" I heard and looked at Aasim.

"Shit uh… yea if I had a stick." I said and looked around but none of the sticks were sturdy enough.

"Let's find a better spot, we can't have her opening that wound again." Ruby says.

"At this point I don't give a damn." I mumbled as we headed down the wood path to see if we could find a better place to climb. I heard more gun shots and looked at the direction where it was coming from.

"Clem's fine." I heard AJ say and I nod as we walked more.

"It took a while but we finally found a spot where it would be an easy climb, so we were all able to get on the road and Aasim looked at the map.

"Ok so let's head into the town there's an old auto lot we could see if there's any good working vehicles there." He said and we all just start walking. I stay in the very back of the group and I see them look at me as they turn around. Probably making sure I don't run off to Clementine. It took a few hours and the sun was rising up when we He to the car lot. There was a few cars here and there and a few walkers that they took out as I looked for they keys. I found a few and we tried them out. None of the cars worked and I groaned a bit as I place my head on the steering wheel.

"It's ok, we'll find a car." Willy said and I rubbed my face.

"The batteries are fucking dead, there's no way." I mumbled and rubbed my face a bit and looked around and saw an auto shop near by and I went in and looked around.

"You shouldn't go into a building alone." I heard and looked to see AJ.

"Sorry but there might be something we can use in there." I said and he nods as we go inside. No walkers which was a good sign but also bad if they're just being quiet. I looked around a bit and saw one of those portable batteries that you can charge up. I turned it on but nothing and I sighed.

"To easy." I mumbled.

"Hey mom look."

I heard and looked at AJ who found another portable battery charger and I went over and turned it on to see it working and I turned it off.

"Good job Goofball." I said and rubbed his head and picked up the battery as we began walking out. We went over to the truck and I placed the battery on the ground and went to pop the hood. When I did Aasim pushes the hood open and I grabbed the charger and hooked it up right and we waited a bit.

"Vi we need to talk."

"Nothing to talk about Louis." I said and he rubbed his face. I looked out onto the road. Just Incase Clementine decided to change plans and come with us.

"Look, we can only stay in one place for so long, so we can't stay in Dallas for to long." He said.

"Fuck you Louis, if Clem said that's the meeting point than that's the meeting point, we don't fucking leave." I said and he looked at me.

"Ok and if those psychopaths are still following us than what?" He said and I looked at him.

"Just think if Clem wasn't able to get them off our trail than what?" He said.

"We fight them." I said.

"We can't, we couldn't even fight off the raiders completely without Mitches bomb." He said.

"So? We practice, we can shoot, the hell did all that time at the farm mean to you?" I asked and he looks at me.

"We just leave the symbol that Clem drew a year ago." He said and pulled out the map with the symbol.

"You guys can leave I'll stay." I said and I head to the truck door and I turn the key. It starts up and we all get in. Omar and Aasim were up front driving and giving directions and I just watched as Atlanta got smaller and small as we left the city. As we left Clementine.

"Clem always keeps her promise." I head and looked down at AJ who was laying his head on my side and I rubbed his side gently and ruby checked my shoulder.

"God damn you bleed a lot." She says and I look at her a bit and sigh as I rub my face.

"Does it hurt to move?" She asked and I did move my shoulder a bit and hissed at the pain as I stop.

"Fucking hell." I mumbled.

"Well as long as you can move it it seems fine, but we need to make sure you keep moving it so it doesn't stiffen." She says and I nod a bit.

"How long till we get to Dallas?" I asked through the window.

"Depends, might take a day or two." Aasim said and I nodded a bit. Hours had passed and I just kept watching the road as we drove on it. The truck came to a stop and we all got out and I looked around a bit to see some abandoned cars and Minnie along with Louis went to get some gas.

"Vi, come on talk to us." I heard ruby say and I shook my head a bit.

"Louis says we can't stay in Dallas long so y'all will leave with him after a few days." I said."And what about you?" She asked.

"That's where Clem said to meet so that's where I'm staying, so…. Yea." I mumbled.

"Vi." She says and places her hand on my good shoulder. We had to use a spare long sleeved shirt as a makeshift sling for my arm for now.

"That's where she said to meet up so…. I'll be fine I know the area anyway." I said.

"And what about medical attention? Last I checked you worked on cars with your girl not people." She said trying to make a joke. I did laugh a little and I nodded a bit.

"I'll be fine, no heavy lifting and being quiet is my specialty." I said.

"You sure about that plan?" She asked.

"Yea, we can find a spare map and you along with the others can head out we make checkpoints on where you guys will go and we can meet up." I explained.

"And what about AJ? You know that boy isn't gonna leave you alone, you're all he has left of Clem." She says.

"You act like she's dead."

"I didn't mean it like that, I mean you're all the family he has until Clem comes back." She says and I look at AJ as he talks with Willy and Willy is just showing him plans on making bombs.

"I think he'd be safer with you guys." I said and rubbed my neck a bit.

"He's gonna throw a fit." She says.

"I'll tell him the day y'all leave that way he doesn't change his mind a day later, y'all will be long gone by then." I explained and ruby just looks at me a bit and I just look at AJ more.

"Are you sure you wanna do that?" She asked and I nod a bit.

"Yea…. I'm sure." I said Louis and Minnie then came back and we filled up the truck and I got in the back as Aasim drove off again. It wasn't long till we got to our next resting point, we were currently in Alabama right now so we decided to take a rest for the night in one of the abandoned houses. I help set AJ and Willy to bed and I went into the living room and looked at everyone who looked back at me.

"Did clem ever tell you about this Joan person?" Minnie asked and I shook my head no.

"No, other than the fact that she use to work with the New Frontier group." I said as I sat down on the couch and Ruby looked me over again.

You sure she isn't working with them." She says and I glare at her.

"Don't fucking test me, not now Minnie." I tell her and she looks at me.

"I just find it weird that she didn't let us defend her home that she's complained about for months, and then goes alone to supposedly draw them away from us." She says.

"Clem wouldn't stay with a group that robbed people and took AJ from her, that's the shit you'd pull, since you killed Sophie." I said and she looked at me with a glare and did the same.

"Look, calm down." Louis said.

"Calm down? Louis just shut the hell up, you literally cannot tell anyone to calm down at this point." I said.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're letting Minnie accuse Clementine of being a traitor when she doesn't even fucking know her, then you tell me not to stay in Dallas where Clementine said she would meet up with us."

"Because I'm thinking of your safety."

"No you aren't when the hell do you care about safety, you didn't even want to fucking help keep the school safe when the raiders came, oh I gotta play the fucking piano instead of working, oh look let's play piñata with a god damn walker, all you did was screw around." I said as we both stood up, Ruby holding me back and Omar holding Louis back as Aasim got between us.

"Ok you two." Aasim says.

"Well what about you always hanging around Clem screwing around on your trips." He says.

"We didn't screw around you fucking moron, we brought back food, medicine, clothes for winter, we worked on the god damn truck for weeks, we busted our asses just to keep you and everyone safe." I tell him.

"What about when you were on the bell tower hu?" He says.

"You mean when she kissed me? We checked the damn wall before we did anything else, so fucking what we put two weeks of work into that wall but you didn't do shit." I tell him.

"You don't know what I did." He says.

"Ok what the fuck did you do than hu? Cause me, Clem and Aasim busted our asses on the wall, you sure as hell weren't helping Ruby cause that was Tennessee, you didn't help Mitch with the fucking bombs, Willy and Aasim worked on the damn log in the school, and Omar went with us to get supplies for the school, wall, and everything else, you did the same shit to me as you did with Marlon." I said and he looked at me.

"Don't bring him up."

"IT'S FUCKING TRUE! You told me you knew Marlon was struggling years before Clementine and AJ came, I told you to help him but you didn't do shit but mess around like always."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM THAN!" He yelled.

"YOU WERE HIS GOD DAMN BEST FRIEND, DON'T PULL THAT SHIT ON ME!" I yelled and Ruby pulled me back as I tried to punch him.

"YOU DIDN'T HELP HIM EITHER!" He yelled.

"YOU FUCKING KNEW HE WAS IN TROUBLE, BUT INSTEAD YOU WAITED TILL HIS BRAINS WERE BLOWN OUT TO FINALLY RELIZE HE NEEDED HELP, THEN YOU KICKED CLEM AND AJ OUT BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T WANT TO BLAME YOURSELF FOR MARLONS ACTIONS, HE KILLED BRODY BUT YOU DIDN'T FUCKING CARE!" I yelled.

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Ruby yells and I look at her.

"The boys are sleeping and you two ain't making it any better now Shut both your damn mouths sit the hell down and fucking take a break." She says and I shake my head.

"No fuck this." I said and got up and headed to the back yard and sat on the steps. I rubbed my face a bit and just looked at the yard a bit and closed my eyes. Just trying to calm down a bit. I thought of Clementine.


	27. Have A Drink With Me Old Friend

(Violets Pov)

-Two Days Later-

We had gotten to Texas early in the morning, I looked around a bit as I drove into Dallas and I stopped at one of the motels, it took us a while to clear it of walkers but we got it done.

"Finally." AJ says as he flops on the bed and I look at him a bit and Willy copies him.

"Yea that was exhausting." Willy says and I nod a bit. I look to my side and I see Louis looking at me and we both glare at each other. I roll my eyes a bit as I get back to the truck and grab my bag and head into an empty room.

"So you plan on staying here till Clem suppose to show up?" I heard and looked up to see Louis who was looking down at me.

"Yea, not like that's gonna be an issue for you guys since y'all will be gone soon anyway." I said and he looks at me.

"You always listen to her." He says.

"Of course I do, if it wasn't for her your dumb ass would be dead."

"We've survived for eight years without her."

"And look what fucking happened Louis, Minnie got taken and she killed Sophie, Marlon traded them like nothing, Brody ended up dead, murdered by Marlon, you knew he was struggling and you didn't do shit about it, and then Marlon gets his brains blown out by a child and then you start acting like you know what the fuck you're doing." I said and he looked at me.

"Then I stepped up and took leadership because you didn't want that fucking responsibility to deal with, and guess what, Clem has been helping me, she knows what the fuck she's doing." I say.

"If she knew what the hell she's been doing then why the hell did she get kidnapped." He said and I glared at him.

"Why the fuck didn't Marlon give himself up hu? Why the fuck didn't you give yourself up to the raiders? Why the fuck didn't you do anything besides play on that damn piano instead of helping us?" I said pissed.

"All you ever acted like was a fucking petty ass bitch boy who doesn't do shit if it doesn't pertain to you, if you don't get anything out of it, you won't do shit for it." I said.

"Oh says the girl who fucking sat in front of a god damn tv and let her grandma kill herself, and didn't fucking help her."

"I WAS ELEVEN YOU FUCKER!" I yelled and the door opened to show Aasim and Ruby looking at us.

"YOU BROKE YOUR PARENTS MARRIAGE JUST CAUSE YOUR FUCKING DAD DIDN'T GIVE YOU WHAT YOU WANTED YOU FUCKING RUINED THEIR PERFECT MARRIAGE JUST CAUSE HE TOLD YOU YOU COULDN'T HAVE ONE GOD DAMN THING!" I yelled and he looked at me.

"You lived a far better life than I ever fucking did, I was bullied before I got to Ericsson, my mom didn't have any fucking time for me because she worked her god damn ass off to keep us barely fucking living, MY FATHER WAS A DRUNK BASTARD WHO USE TO BEAT THE HELL OUT OF ME JUST CAUSE I DIDN'T DO A GOD DAMN MATH PROBLEM, AND MY GRANDMA WAS FUCKING DEPRESSED AFTER MY GRANDFATHER DIED, I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO FUCKING DEAL WITH THAT SHIT!" I yelled at him and he looked at me.

"Ooooh but you, no the moment you didn't get the one fucking thing you wanted you made it look like your dad was cheating on your mom just cause you couldn't take the time of day to get off your ass and work for a god damn living, I fucking did, I busted my ass when I was little just to get a god damn pair of shoes cause my dad wasted my mom's money on fucking beer." I tell him clenching my fist.

"So don't you ever fucking dare bring up my grandma, I was a fucking child you were a god damn teenager and you fucking knew Marlon and you fucking knew he was in trouble but you didn't do shit, I was mourning over Minnie who I thought was fucking dead for a god damn year when you told me this shit about Marlon, I HAD MY OWN ISSUES TO DEAL WITH AND I STILL HAVE THEM NOW!" I yelled and Aasim came in and pushed me back when I got in Louis's face.

"FUCK YOU!, I learned from my mistakes I regret what I did and didn't do."

"Oh but you're fucking stand there and tell me that you'd survive out there, then fucking go now Louis, I don't fucking care anymore, and if anyone wants to go with you be my fucking guest, but I'm staying here till Clementine gets here." I said and he looked at me.

"And what if she doesn't hu? What if she's dead now?"

"Take it back."

"No, what if she died two fucking days ago."

"SHE DIDN'T!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" He yelled.

"QUIT IT!" We heard and I looked at Ruby and saw AJ behind her and I looked at him then down at the ground.

"Clem's not dead Louis, you really shouldn't say things like that." AJ says sadly and I look at him.

"AJ it's just a realistic way of thinking." He says to him.

"Don't fucking say that shit about his mom." I tell him.

"It's true Violet." He said.

"Louis quit it now, all you're doing is causing an issue." Ruby says.

"I'm just saying that maybe Clem didn't make it, and violet shouldn't just stay here just cause she was told to."

"I'm not gonna let Clem come here just to find us gone." I tell him.

"And what will you do Hu? Stay here when there's crazy people after us? They killed Tenn." He says.

"I know that."

"Then don't stay."

"I'm staying I don't care what you say Louis, now leave me alone, I'm done talking to you." I tell him and he leaves.

"Fucking god damn." I mumbled and felt a hand on my shoulder and looked to see Ruby and I saw AJ looking at me and I looked down a bit.

"Clem's not dead." He said.

"Of course not buddy, Clem's alive." I said and he came to the bed and sat on it and I looked at him and rubbed his head a bit.

"I heard you and Ruby talking a few days ago….. I'm not gonna leave you behind, I wanna stay with you." He says and I look at him.

"AJ, I…. you can't stay here with me the entire time." I said.

"Yes I can, Clem will freak if she doesn't see me, she'll think it's the New frontier all over again." He says and I look at him.

"I… I suppose." I thought and rubbed my head a bit as I sat down on the bed next to him.

"If you're worried about me don't worry I can take care of myself." He says and I nod a bit.

"I know you can buddy, never doubt you." I said and he looks at me as I look back at him and think a bit.

"Wanna see where I grew up?" I asked and he nods a bit as I get up and grab an empty bag and my gun and AJ has his gun. We head out and I see the rest of the group talking and they look at us.

"AJ and I are heading out for a bit." I said as they looked at us.

"Be safe." Ruby says and Rosie barks as she comes up to AJ and I.

"Rosie should go with you." Aasim says and I nod as we begin walking. It took a few hours before we stopped at my old trailer and I looked at it. Damn thing looked untouched for years.

"This is where you lived?" AJ asked and I nodded a bit as we walked up the steps of the trailer and I opened the door a bit and looked inside. The inside looked a mess and the chairs were tipped over, the cabinets were wide open and there were a few holes in the wall.

"You ok Violet?" I heard and looked at AJ and nodded as I looked around. I could see my dad sitting in his old beat up recliner, with a beer in hand watching TV, I could also see my mom in the kitchen as she made dinner on one of the few nights I was able to see her.

"Yea I'm fine." I said as we walked in more. I went into my parents room and saw it was a mess too, the bed was stripped down and turned over, the closet was empty and I felt around the floor of the closet.

"What are looking for?" AJ asked as he came beside me and I smiled a bit.

"My dad has a hidden compartment in this closet, it's where he hid his gun." I said and I felt the lose board as I lifted it up and saw the box. I pulled it out and sat with my back to the wall and AJ sat next to me as I opened it. Inside was my fathers old pistol.

"Surprised he didn't grab this." I said.

"Maybe they got him?" AJ said and I looked at him.

"Maybe… but at least there's no blood in the house so maybe he ran… god I don't know what happened to my mom." I said and I felt him look at me.

"I'm sorry." He says and I nod.

"Don't be." I said and we got out and looked around more and I found an old photo of me, along with my mother, father, grandmother and grandfather before he passed away.

"Is that your family?" AJ asked and I nodded as I pointed to my mom. She had long blond curly hair and she was in her sun dress since it was Sunday and we had just got finished with church.

"That's my mother." I then pointed to my father who had short brown hair and was wearing his Sunday suit and I looked at AJ.

"My father, then my grandma and grandpa." I said as I pointed to them as well and then myself. I was dressed in a black pair of jeans with a white buttoned up shirt and a black jacket.

"And you." He says and I nod.

"Yep, and me." I said and I look at him and he nods a bit. I place the photo in my pocket and we head out. We look around more and find a few bullets here and there and I pay Rosie's head when she stays by AJ. We head back to the motel and we go to our rooms and set our bags down then head out into the back by the pool area. I look at the group members as Aasim started a fire and they look back at me as we all sat near the fire.

"Find anything?" Minnie asked and I pulled my dads gun out.

"Cool, Louis needs a gun." She says and I pull out my old one and I held it out to him.

"I'm keeping this one." I mumbled.

"Why?" She asked and I watched the fire.

"It was my dads." Was all I said and he grabbed the old gun and I let it go as I watched the fire more.

"Find anything else?" Minnie asked.

"Bullets." I said.

"How many?"

"Not much." I mumbled as I looked at them.

"You ok?" Ruby asked and I nodded. AJ and Willy came out to the fire and I watched AJ as he came over and sat next to me.

"Find anything good little dude?" Louis asked.

"Bullets and a gun, that's about it." He said and I pulled out the photos I had with me. My family photo along with Clementine and I looked at them.

"What's that?" Louis asked but I didn't answer.

"A photo." I said and I placed my thumb on my grandmas face and rubbed the photo a bit.

"Well yea but of what?" He asked. I stayed quiet and looked back at the fire as I put my leg over my other. I kept stroking the photo a bit and had one hand placed by my mouth.

"A photo of what?" Minnie asked and I looked at AJ then them.

"Doesn't matter." I muttered.

"Then why keep it." Louis said as he got up and threw it in the fire and I stood up and grabbed it quickly, burning myself badly and dropping the photo as I put the flames out on the photo.

"FUCK YOU!" I yelled as I shoved him.

"It's just a dumb photo." He says and I shove him again.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING IGNORANT ASSHOLE!" I yelled and was about to punch him but was held back by Omar and I glared at him more as I saw Minnie pick up the photo and I shoved Omar away and grabbed the photo from her and she looked at me. I looked down to see the photo was as ok as it could be.

"Vi." She says and I shove her back.

"Just…. Just leave me alone." I muttered.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" I heard AJ yell and I looked at him.

"AJ not now."

"HE BURNT YOUR FAMILY PHOTO!" He yelled and I look down.

"AJ just…. Keep your voice down please." I said as I saw them looking at me.

"Vi I didn't." Louis tried to say.

"Just shut your god damn mouth Louis, you fucking didn't even look at it before you threw it in the flames…. So just shut the fuck up." I said.

"I'm just apologizing." He said.

"Yea well I don't fucking want it, you guys can leave whenever, leave signs if you want I don't care." I said as I sat back down. Hours passed and everyone went to bed besides Omar, AJ, and I as I watched the gate. A few walkers were up against the gate as they tried to grab for us but they weren't able to, seeing as we were fifty feet from them and the gate was ten feet tall.

"I'm sorry violet." Omar says and I look at him.

"You have no reason to be sorry Omar." I said as I looked at him.

"Everyone is just on edge since…. Since the farm hell since Marlon died." He says and I watch as he pokes the fire a bit.

"But you haven't…. how?" I asked.

"Just keep myself preoccupied with surviving an not trying to get into peoples business." He says and I chuckle.

"Yea…. That seems like a good thing to do." I said.

"But you can't… you're trying to keep the group together but things aren't easy, Louis talking about your past and you talking about his…. Talking about staying instead of going…. I know you love Clementine, and you do listen to her because yes she does know the outside world better than us, but even she doesn't know everything, we don't know if there's people here, like the New Frontier group." He says and I nod.

"Just a few days was all I was asking, she'll come to us." I said.

"I know…. But think about AJ." He says and I watch as AJ headed inside the motel to go to bed.

"He wants to stay with me, I want him to go with you guys…. He's old enough to make his own choice at this point." I said as I looked at the flames.

"What ever happened to that James guy?" He asked out of random.

"I don't know… he's probably still walking with the walkers."

"That's smart though." He says and I nod.

"Clem will find you, both of you." He says and I look at him.

"I know." I said as I watched the walkers, then at Omar.

"I know she will." I said and I closed my eyes a bit as I felt the cool air and warm flames.

"Try to make things up with Louis if you can, don't want the last thing to be of you two is y'all hating each other." He says.

"I will…. I will." I said and opened my eyes a bit.

"I'll keep your word on that."

"That's the best thing we got these days." I said.

"Want a drink?" He asked and I looked as he pulled a whisky bottle and I nod a bit.

"Yea… I could really use one right now." I said as he hands me the bottle and I open it. He grabs two cups and I pour some in for each of us and I place the bottle on the table. We drink a bit as I look at the stars.

"Remember when we were younger and the principal blamed you for almost anything." Omar said and I chuckled.

"Yea… didn't he try to blame me for Mitch's bomb? Said I asked him to make it or some shit?" I asked and Omar nodded.

"Yea… though you kinda did." He says and I smile.

"I just asked if he had fireworks." I said and took a sip of my drink.

"Well Mitch provides." He said and I chuckled.

"God I miss that giant goof…… last thing he did was save Tennessee, from that god damn bitch." I said and he nods.

"He was like a big brother to Willy…. God he won't talk to us a lot only AJ." He commented.

"Only kid close to his age….guess he's trying to be like Mitch for AJ." I said and we both nod. I take another drink and breath a bit.

"You and Clementine…. To think y'all found each other in a walker infested world." He says and I look at him a bit.

"She'd crack jokes about crashing into our lives…. To think I pulled her out that wreak while Marlon grabbed AJ…. Honest to god if you told me that day that her and I would hook up…. I would have called you crazy." I said.

"When did you fall for her?" He asked as I took another drink.

"….When I talked to her in her room when I went to get the colored pencils from the room…. We just talked and I don't know, my stomach fluttered and I felt the same way I did when I talked to Minnie." I said as I drank and so did he.

"Didn't you use to like that one girl… Erin?" I asked and he nodded.

"I did yes." He says and I drink.

"She was a sweet girl…. Just like Tenn, how the hell did she get sent there…." I mumbled a bit.

"Parents didn't want to deal with her just like all our parents didn't want to deal with us." He said and I sighed as I finished my drink and he poured some more.

"I shouldn't drink at lot at this point." I said as I took a sip.

"Just relaxing, don't worry you won't get anymore." He says as he puts the bottle away and I nod. Omar knew about my family before anyone else so I know he understands why I limit myself.

"Fucking hell." I mumbled as I got up and walked a bit with the cup in my hand.

"Clementines a tough girl." He says and I nod.

"Damn right She is."

"She'll find us." He says and I nod.

"I know…. She found AJ." I said a bit and drank a bit.

"Hmm what do you think you'd be doing right now if walkers didn't exist?" He asked.

"Probably work…. What about you?" I asked.

"Same, probably work." He says and I nod.

"Well we do that already, we just don't get paid for it." He joked and I chuckled a bit.

"You ain't wrong." I said and looked at the gate a bit as the walkers moved away.

"Come on let's head to bed." He says and I nod as I down my drink and I head to my room as he heads to his. I open the door and I see AJ in my room laying on my bed asleep. I go and sit on the bed and rub his head a bit as he slept a bit and I set my feet on the bed and closed my eyes as I was sitting.

"Night Mom." I heard AJ say quietly.

"Night Goofball." I said and he taps my leg with his fist as I chuckle a bit as we fall asleep.


	28. When The Day Comes

(Violet's Pov)

It's been a few weeks since Louis and the others had left, AJ and I had stayed behind in Texas while the others headed to Florida, if they have to move, they'll leave a sign for us. Clementine hasn't returned yet, I'm getting a bit scared but, I have to be strong for AJ, Clem is alive I know it.

"We have to go on another supply run." AJ said as he looked in our bag and I nod a bit as I barricade the door for the night. I handed him one of the apples that was growing in the neighbors' yard and he takes it and looks at me.

"What about you?" He asked.

"I'm fine, we'll find more food tomorrow." I said and he looked at me.

"Where's the knife?" He asked.

"AJ please just eat it, I'm not hungry anyway." I said as I looked at him.

"But you have to eat." He said and I sighed a bit.

"AJ, I know you're looking out for me but I'm fine I promise you that, now please eat the apple." I said and he looked at me and sighs and I chuckle a bit.

"Stubborn just like your mom." I said and he looked at me.

"Clementine is stubborn." He says and we chuckle a bit.

"God, I remember when she didn't want me doing any god damn work at the farm, she wanted to do everything." I mumbled and looked at AJ.

"She didn't let me really do anything." He said and I nodded.

"Well, neither did I to be honest." I said.

"Yea… you're stubborn too." He says and I laugh more.

"Oh yea…. Everyone is stubborn." I said and he nods.

"Why did the others leave? I mean I know they didn't want to stay but, they could have." He says and I look at the wall. It had some of AJ's new drawings hung up and I looked back down at him.

"I made them leave… Ruby didn't want to but they need her more than we do honestly, Louis just didn't want to stay…. He was scared, and the others just I made them leave." I said and he looked at me.

"We'll all be together soon." He says and I nod a bit as we just fall asleep for the night. I woke up to the sound of walkers groaning and banging on the door so I got up a bit and looked to see AJ still asleep and I place the blanket on him more and I looked out the window a bit and saw it was only three walkers. I rubbed my face a bit from sweat dripping down and I move away from the window and I sit back down in my dads' chair. I look at AJ as he slept holding his Disco Broccoli toy, I remember that Clem said she had found it for him when he was around four years old, a year after she had found him.

"God Clem where are you?" I asked myself as I closed my eyes again just to get a few more minutes of sleep. I don't know how long I was asleep but I felt someone shaking me and I open my eyes a bit and see AJ looking at me.

"You ok?" I asked and he nods.

"Yea just… thirsty." He said.

"Oh, ok." I said and slowly got up and I got him some bottled water.

"You never have to ask me for water, you know, that right?" I asked as he drank some.

"But we only have so much." He said and I nodded and thought for a bit.

"Want to know a cool trick?" I asked and he looked at me and I smile as I grab some containers for water and I grab my backpack as I place the containers in. he grabbed his gun and I grab my rifle as we head to the old creek bed by my home, I fill up the containers and so does he and I watch as he sees some frogs and I watch as he tries to catch them.

"Damn." He says and I laugh as he covers his mouth.

"Nah it's good, Ruby ain't here." I tell him and he smiles and nods as he grabbed the water bottles and I closed the huge water jugs and we head back to the trailer.

"What's this cool trick?" he asked and I looked at him.

"Well, we can't keep looking for water bottles here and there, so what I'm going to do is take this water." I said as I lifted the jug up a bit.

"And I'm going to boil it, that way the water is safe to drink." I said and he looked at me.

"But wont the water be hot?" He asked.

"After we let it cool that is." I said and he nods.

"So that's how they cleaned water before walkers?" He asked.

"Well, yea but also no, they did way before we had water cleaning systems and all that fancy stuff that we kids don't know how to work, but before that was made, they use to boil water to drink." I explained a bit. He nods as he starts to understand, I've been trying to teach him with some old book I had in my home, it was old school books that would be right for his age though.

"Clementine would love it here." He says and I look at him.

"Yea not as many walkers around, nice and quiet place, we could fortify the fence a bit more make it better, hell could go to an old construction site and get some concrete." I said as I thought a bit more.

"You're getting a tan." AJ said randomly and I look at him then my arm and I nod.

"Yep, happens when you go out in the sun a lot." I said.

"does it hurt you?' he asked and I chuckled.

"No, well if you hit me yea it would hurt a bit." I said as he looked at me.

"Don't even try it." I said as he smiled a bit and he tapped me and runs. I chuckle as I go after him and we get to the trailer, as we get back home I look at the back yard as I make a fire in the fire pit, we got some pots and filled them up with water and I watch as AJ grabbed some twigs and brought them over to me as I kept the fire going.

"You know my grandfather would make smores right here." I said and looked up a bit. I could see my grandfather sitting across from me as he handed my grandmother a smore just the way she liked it.

"What's a smore?" he asked.

"It's a really sweet treat, with gram crackers, a piece of chocolate, and a marshmallow all put together like a sandwich and you uh, you take the marshmallow and roast it in the fire, to what you like it as…. I wish I had some to show you." I said and he sits next to me.

"It's ok, I think I have the right image." He says and I look at him.

"Why do you think Walkers exist?" He asked and I thought a bit.

"Probably…. hmm…. why do you think they exist?" I asked.

"I asked you first."

"Well I asked you second."

"Well now I'm asking you third." He says and I laugh and so does he.

"Honest opinion?" I asked and he nods.

"Maybe they exist cause…. It was to show how strong people can be…. I eh… I mean the teachers left us to die…. Kids…. Shit." I said and looked down and I felt his hand on my back.

"I think walkers are here to get all the bad guys but it went wrong." He said and I looked at him.

"Like the people who abandoned you, the teachers, maybe they're all gone because they left kids to fight for themselves." He said and I nodded a bit.

"That kind of makes sense but then wouldn't we be dead too cause… well I'm a bad kid." I said.

"You're not, Troubled yes, but bad? No, you take care of me, and you're taking care of me right now, for Clementine."

"You're a good kid." I said and rubbed his head gently. We let the water boil for a bit and once it was good enough, I let it cool down and set another pot on the fire and I looked at him as he relaxed a bit. I talked to him a bit more as we just talked for a bit.

"Clementine gave me a pocket knife once." He said.

"Is that so?"

"Yea, it was cool too, Clem had put her um…. Initial?" he asked and I nodded.

"Yep."

"Yea it was a C and she put that on the knife so if someone took it we know it was them." He said.

"Smart." I said.

"Yea, well she gave it to me but… I lost it in the car… when we met you." He said and I looked at him a bit.

"Sorry." I said.

"Nah it's fine….. I wish Clem was here." He says and I nod a bit and look up at the sun a bit and look at the clouds.

"Me too buddy, me too…. Don't worry Clem will be here before we know it, then she can comment on how big you've gotten." I said and he nods. We get back to work on the trailer patching some holes up and I worked on the fence a bit and rubbed my face. The sweat was dripping down my face again and I sighed as I wiped it off again and I looked around a bit more as I worked on the fence. I jiggled the board a bit and I looked over to AJ who was watching the water boil. I went and moved the pot over and I filled the others up in the jugs and I looked at him as I gave him a bottle of water.

"Drink up." I said.

"You drink too." He said and I nod as I grab my bottle and I take a few sips and look around a bit.

"Are you going to let me help with the fence?" He asked and I looked at him.

"You can help keep watch for walkers if that helps." I said he nods as he goes and grabs his gun. I grab the tools again and start working on the fence as he keeps watch for walkers. It was hours later before I decided to take a break, I had the whole front of the fence all done and I'll work on the rest later. I look at AJ as he looks at some walkers, I come up to him and I look at the walkers too.

"You think they feel any pain?' he asked and I looked at him.

"Not really sure on that bud…. I don't think they do." I said as we looked at the walkers and they looked back at us and tried to grab at us.

"What if they do?'

"Then I'm sorry for causing them more pain."

"Are you really?" he asked and I nod.

"I wouldn't want to have the same shit happen to me." I said.

"So, are you going to ask me to shoot you too?" he asked and I looked at him.

"No… if anything I'll take myself out before you have to do something like that." I said as I looked at the walkers more.

"I could though if you asked." He said.

"I know you would but I don't want you to do that, I don't want you to have to shoot someone that you…. That took care of you…. Look at clementine, she…. She shot Lee and." I said as I lied about Clem having to take Lee out, but it still caused her pain when she couldn't, how bad would AJ get if he had to take me out like that.

"I don't want you to have to take out someone you love just because I was stupid enough to get bit." I said.

"You're not stupid, you'll never be stupid Vi." He said and I just looked at the walkers and I grabbed my dads' gun and shot them both and shook my head.

"Are we going to bury them?" He asked and I looked at them and rubbed my neck a bit as I looked at the walkers.

"Yea…. We can." I said as I looked at him and we dragged the bodies in. I started to dig in my back yard and I looked at AJ as he covered their faces, then went and got two extra pieces of wood and started on the cross. By the time night had come the fire still going and both holes done I grabbed the bottle of water and took a drink. I looked at the bodies a bit and I set the bottle down and dragged the bodies near the holes and I set them in as best as I could. I finish up and then begin to fill in the holes and I look at the bodies a bit as I finish the holes and AJ sets the crosses behind the graves.

"Do you have anything to say?" he asked as he stood next to me.

"No…. nothing at all." I said as I looked at the crosses.

"But."

"Sorry… I have nothing to say right now…. Maybe later." I said and he nods as we head inside. I look at the barricade a bit and I see AJ grab a can of food and we head back outside and we warm it up in the fire and I look at him. He looks back at the graves and I rub my face a bit as I look at him and I open my mouth just to close it. He looks at me and I look down and I sigh then I look to the graves a bit and I look down and hold my hands together a bit.

"I have nothing nice to say." I said.

"Anything is better than nothing at this point." He said.

"But something bad will make you regret what you say later on." I said and he looked at me. I look at the fire a bit and sigh as I close my eyes for a bit and I put my hands to my face and I look back up as I look at AJ again.

"I guess I forgive them…. Shit if they came back for me, I'd be dead like them." I said and looked at the graves.

"I wouldn't have met you, or Clem, so they did one good thing in their life, they kept me safe at least." I said and looked at AJ and he nods as we grab the can and I give him more food and I take a few bites.

"You don't eat much anymore." He says and I nod.

"Rationing, you need the food more than I do, besides we'll find more food tomorrow, we have clean water for now." I said as I shook the water bottle a bit and took a drink.

"But you need food too."

"AJ, I will be fine, trust me on this, I will eat and drink and sleep when I know you're safe and full, and hydrated." I said and he looked at me.

"Clem did the same thing, always thought of me before herself."

"We care about you AJ."

"But you don't need to hurt yourselves to keep me safe."

"AJ."

"No…. you have to eat too." He says as he shoves the can to me and I look at him.

"No, you eat it, AJ we will be fine just trust me." I said as I gave the can back.

"Mom." He says.

"Don't…. please just for me, I'll have a small snack later." I said and he looked at me and I look back at him.

"Fine, but you better eat, or I won't go to bed till you do." He said and I nod.

"Roger that." I said and he ate a little more and I looked at the stars.

_'God Clementine, he's just like you, stubborn as all hell.' _I thought as I looked at the stars. It wasn't long till I ate a small snack so AJ wouldn't worry and I took him to bed where he laid on the mattress, we set in the living room and I covered him in the blanket and he had the Disco Broccoli character with him again. I rubbed his back a bit as I hummed a small tune to him to help him sleep better. When he had finally fallen asleep, I got up and sat in the recliner and closed my eyes a bit. It had to have been hours later when I heard something banging on the door and I got up quickly along with AJ as we grabbed our guns and I looked out the window and saw a person banging on the door, but it was so dark I couldn't see their face. AJ looks at me and nods as I go to the door and I open it as he aimed his gun at the person.

"CLEM?!" He yells and I look quickly and I see that it is Clem. She smiles at me a bit and her faces is bloody and god she looks like she's going to pass out so I quickly grab her and pull her in as she collapses and AJ quickly shuts the door and puts the barricade back up as I lay Clem on the mattress and she strokes my cheek gently.

"T-T-Told, you I-I-I'd find you." She says before she passes out.

"Shit, Clem no, wake up." I mumbled as I shook her and checked her for any injuries.

"Clem?" I asked as she didn't wake up.

"Fuck." I mumbled as AJ puts the pillow under her head and I look and sees her injury from Lilly was wide open and I grabbed a blanket as I tried to stop the blood.

"Fucking god damn it." I cried.

"We have stitches." AJ says.

"G-Get it, and um… the... rubbing." I tried to say as he ran to the bag and grabbed what we needed and I grabbed my lighter.

"P-put god, warm up the needle." I said as I moved the blanket and I grabbed the bottle and I began to rub her wound gently but my hands were shaking like crazy as I tried my best to help Clementine.

"Vi." AJ said as he was at the foot of the mattress and I looked at him as he had Clems' pant leg lifted up and what I saw, will haunt me forever. There was a nasty bloody, bite on her leg, made by a walker I know. I look down at Clementine sadly as I rub her head gently as she sweat a lot and I gulped.

"We got to cut it off." AJ said and I looked at him then at Clem and I nod a bit.

"O-Ok, go get the um…. Get the hand saw and after that put your knife in the fire to put on the wound." I said and looked as clementine slept. God, I didn't want to wake her up or cause her pain. I looked up as I saw the hand saw in my vision and I grabbed it and I grabbed an old shirt and tied it on her leg tightly and I saw her open her eye a bit.

"Hm? Wha?" she mumbled and I come up to her and I rub her head gently.

"Clem, y-you got bit so…. So, w-we're going to…." I tried to say.

"I got bit?" she asked and I nodded.

"On the leg." I mumbled to her.

"Is it going to hurt?" she asked and I looked at her and nodded a bit.

"Like a fucking bitch." I said and she nods.

"Ok…. Ok." She mumbled as she closed her eye again and I looked at her leg.

"AJ hold her down while I cut." I said and he nods and goes over to Clementine and holds her shoulders down and I put the blade on her leg. And I begin to cut.


	29. A Promise to Be Made

(Violets Pov)

As I cut Clems' leg blood was pouring out and she began to scream in pain as AJ tried his best to hold her down, I stopped and pushed her back down a bit and she looked at me with tears in her eyes and I looked at her more.

"I'm almost done, just a few more and it'll be done ok?" I asked and she nods a bit as she lays back again and I go back and cut a few more times, she screams again but doesn't move I look to her hand and see her Knuckles have turned white and I look to AJ as he cried and I finished up.

"The knife." I said and he ran to get it and I looked at Clem as I moved her now severed leg off the mattress. AJ came back in and handed me the knife and he held Clem down once more and I placed the burning red blade to her open wound and I almost gaged at the burning flesh smell. She screamed again and again as I closed the wound as best as I could. Once done she had passed out and I began to grab a clean shirt and I wrapped it on Clems' stump. I worked on her other wounds too as she slept, I rubbed her head a bit from the sweat and I looked to AJ as he held Clementine's hand in his.

"She's going to be ok right?' He asked and I nod. I hope so, god I hope so.

"Y-Yea, she'll be fine." I mumbled as I looked to her, he left and got a clean cloth and had it dampened by the water and I placed it on her head gently as I rubbed the back of her head a bit.

"She came back…. Louis was wrong and he left." AJ said and I looked to him.

"AJ not now just…. Uh…. Find something for Clem to eat, maybe cut the apples up for her?" I suggested and he nods as he goes and grabs two apples and I go back to the door and barricade it once more and I looked to her as she laid on the mattress. I saw AJ go over to her and sit by her and I went over to them and grabbed Clems' severed leg and I almost gaged as I took it outside and threw it behind the fence so she couldn't see it when she woke up. I went back inside and rubbed my face a bit as I watched AJ talk to her.

"And Violet taught me this cool trick where you boil water to make it good to drink, we can stay here to, this was Violets old home, before the Walkers, we worked on the fence to, well mostly Mom but I tried to help, we made a garden too there's apples, you said you loved apples." AJ says and I go over to him and I sit in the recliner as he looked up at me and I looked down at him a bit and rubbed his head.

"You bothering Clem?" I asked.

"No, just telling her what we've done so far." He says and leans in a bit.

"I didn't tell her the others left though." He whispers and I nod a bit.

"We can tell her when she wakes up and is healthy." I said and he nods a bit. I get up from the recliner and lay it back and I grab a pillow and blanket and I look at AJ.

"Alright, I got watch tonight, you need to sleep." I said as I set the pillow on the head of the chair and he looked at me.

"But."

"Nope, you want to be wide awake for Clementine, right?' I asked and he nods and slowly gets in the chair and I cover him up. Yea he's old enough to do it himself but come on.

"Night." He says and I nod.

"Night." I said and I watched him as he slept. I looked down at Clementine as I rubbed her head gently as she sweat.

_'God, I hope I got the wound in time, fuck how long ago did you get bit?' _I thought as I wet the rag again and placed it on her head. I watched her chest rise and fall with every breath she took and I kept a watchful eye on her just in case. It was hours before the sun rose up and I watched it as it came through the windows and I looked back down to Clementine as she squinted her eye a bit from the sun, so I gently took the wet rag and placed in on her good eye so the sun wouldn't bother her anymore.

"Is she awake?' I heard and looked to AJ.

"No, she's not buddy…... hey I need you to watch her while I go into town to get more medicine, can you do that?" I asked and he looked at me.

"Don't get bit."

"I know."

"Kill any bad guys." He says as I look to him and I nod a bit.

"Alright, what else?" I asked.

"Come home safe." He says and I nod a bit as I grab my bag and my rifle and I feel him hug me and I hug him back with my free arm. He held me pretty tight and I look down at him as I rubbed his head a bit.

"Be safe." He says and I nod.

"Same for you, and keep an eye on Clem, don't open the door and don't go outside till I get back." I said and he nods. I head out the back so the front could stay barricaded good, not that AJ couldn't keep it up it's just easier this way. I head out the fence and lock it then I start the walk into town, it took a good while before I hit major city areas, but I got there quicker than normal. I headed to the pharmacy and went through the back. I listened for any movement, but didn't hear anything so I slowly opened the door and looked in a bit. There was nothing at the moment but I kept my guard up as I walked inside and closed the door but had it opened just a bit. I looked around the store for anything good, I found a few energy bars here and there along with extra bandages in the back office. There was some medicine to reduce fever which was great luck for Clementine, and there were also some coloring books too. So, I grabbed a few and placed all the items in my bag. I looked around some more and found a first aid kit bag so I opened it only to find nothing, but that's fine at least we have the bag to put medical supplies in.

"Not much here but it's a pretty good hall." I said to myself and I got out the store. I looked down the roads a bit and I saw a few vehicles, we had tried to start them but they didn't work the batteries were dead as fuck and I let Louis and them have the portable charger just in case. I looked around more and saw a motorcycle and I looked at it a bit. I remember my neighbor having one once, maybe they have it still locked up in their shed.

"Alright, time to head back." I said and headed back to my old home. I looked around the town a bit more though as I walked back. Memories of this place came flooding back, god I hated most of these memories, Kids at school would see me and bully me because I wore my dad's old hand me downs, or I couldn't go into the fancy smancy stores here, well fuck them, they're all gone probably, fucking pricks. I finally was able to get home and I saw a few walkers by our fences so I grabbed my knife and snuck up on them. I stabbed on in the head and the other two groaned as they saw me. I backed up a bit as I took one of the Walkers legs out and stabbed it like Clementine had showed me once before. The other walker grabbed my hand and I yanked it back a bit, I grunted as I tried to pull back away from the walker but it had a tight grip so I took its' knee out and stabbed it in the head with the knife. It went down and I kicked the thing off me and I glared at it. I shook my head a bit as I sighed and I opened the gate and closed it then locked it, as I did that, I saw AJ poke his head in the window view and I nodded a bit as he came out.

"She woke up a few times while you were gone, but she went back to sleep when I told her to." He said and I nod a bit.

"Alright, good job…. Did anyone come by?" I asked and he shook his head.

"No, no one came by." He says and I nod and look at the fence more.

"Ok, I'm going to work on that side of the fence a bit, you just keep an eye on Clem, if you want you can open the door so some cool air can get in, it's hot as hell." I said and he nods. I head to the trailer and I set my bag down and I grab the coloring books for him and he smiled a bit.

"I know you think you're to old but, hey even older kids color from time to time." I said and he nods.

"It's because you don't want me to work on the fence." He says.

"not entirely, I just need you to keep an eye on Clem for me, that's all." I said and he nods.

"Ok, I'll watch her." He says and I nod as he grabs the book gently and I go grab the tools and I get to work on the right side of the trailer park fence. To be honest I didn't think I would be this good at building a wall, even if it's just something like this for a short time, until we can get good material, or unless we have to leave at least it could buy us some time, not a lot but some. I worked and worked till the sun was high up into the sky so around noon time. I took a bit of a break as I went inside and I grabbed a bottle of water and looked at Clementine as she moved a bit. I went over to her as AJ watched her a bit and went back to coloring a bit then back to her, I sat by her and I wet the rag a bit and saw her eye open and I smiled a bit.

"Hey Darling." I said and she looked at me.

"H-Hey." She says and I help sit her up as she tries to get up. I sit behind her and AJ looks at us a bit and I hand Clem the bottle of water and she drink just little by little.

"You ok?" AJ asked an she nods.

"Just… tired and uh." She says and goes quiet.

"You in any pain?" I asked and nods a bit. AJ goes to the bag and brings it over and I grab some medicine for her.

"No, I'm good." She says.

"No, you aren't now take the damn medicine." I said as she moved my hand away and I look at her.

"Clementine." I said.

"I'm fine." She says.

"You had your leg taken off, take the medicine." AJ says to her.

"I'm good, I don't need it." She says again.

"Hey, we have more than enough so don't pull this shit like you did at the school." I said and she looks at me a bit and sighs as she takes the medicine and swallows them with the water. I rub her back a bit and she looks at her stump and shakes her head.

"Fuck I… I didn't even know." She mumbled a bit and I rub her back more.

"Um…. God, I don't know what to say for this." I said as I look at her then at the floor.

"You hungry?" AJ asked.

"A bit yea." She says quietly and AJ goes and grabs her a few apple slices and hands them to Clementine and she eats them slowly. I rubbed her back a bit as we just settle in a bit. I look as AJ grabs some more apple slices and we all eat and I look at her a bit and she looks at me.

"How have you two been?" She asked quietly.

"We… we've been fine." I said.

"Where are the others?" She asked.

"They left." AJ says and she looks at him then me.

"Look… I wanted to stay here but Louis had other ideas, we talked about it long before you got here." I said.

"You let him decide?" She asked.

"No… I made the others go so he wouldn't do anything stupid, but they said they were heading to Florida, they'll leave signs if they move anywhere with this symbol." I said as I leaned to the side and grabbed the paper with the symbol she drew long ago.

"Fuck….. ok…. Ok, as long as they do that, we're good." She says quietly and I nod a bit.

"Rosie went too?" She asked and we nodded.

"Yea, she'll keep Louis and them in line." AJ said and I chuckled a bit.

"Um…. Ok so we need to find a vehicle and something for you." I said and looked at Clem.

"I'll be fine, crutches." She says and I nod.

"I'll find a foot book somewhere." AJ said.

"Heheh, ok, go find me the foot book." She joked with him and I looked at her as I moved her hair out of her face. I watched as AJ nodded and grabbed some paper and wrote down another item on the list, and I hugged Clem.

"Hm? I'm ok Vi." She says in my neck as she leans back a bit. I hold her to me.

"Jesus fuck I was so scared that I fucked up or… or." I tried to say but I felt her kiss my cheek.

"You did good, you did really good…. And AJ too." She mumbled a bit and I nod.

"Yea he did good." I mumbled a bit.

"Fuck my leg itches but…. There's nothing to scratch." She mumbled and I wanted to chuckle but this was serious. I grabbed her hand gently and rubbed it so she would keep her thoughts off of the supposed itch. I saw AJ come back with a book and I watched him.

"Look Clem, Violet's been letting me read her books, I can read chapter books now." He says and I smile a bit and I see her smiling too.

"I'm uh… getting a bit tired." She says quietly and I nod as I help lay her down gently and I grabbed the bloody sheets off the bed and I covered her in a blanket as she closed her eye and I looked at AJ who looked a bit sad.

"Hey it's fine, the medicine is making her sleepy." I said and he nods a bit as we head outside and I get back to work on the fence. He helped me for a bit and we talked about random things here and there.

"That cloud looks like the beach ball I found." He says and I look up from my work and I see the cloud he's looking at and I chuckle.

"You blew it up even though you said it was gross." I commented and he looked at me.

"Yea, it was gross…. Do you have any toys?" he asked and I looked at him and thought a bit and nodded.

"Yea, you know I don't like baseball but, that's cause my grandfather loved it." I said as I took him to the side of the trailer and opened up a panel.

"Wait, check for monsters." He said and I looked at him and I listen a bit and hear nothing and I finish opening it up and I see my old plastic box inside and I go in. AJ follows me and I open the lid of the box and inside is a baseball, a glove, a bat, and many other toys that I got from my grandfather. I grabbed the ball and looked at AJ and he looked at the ball and I smile.

"Let's play some catch hu?" I asked and he nods as we each grab a glove. I grabbed my grandfathers since my old glove is a bit small for me. We head outside and I close the panel as AJ runs out into the gravel road and I follow him. I toss the ball into the air a bit and I look at him as he looked at the glove and I helped him put it on.

"So, to catch the ball you need to use the glove, it's kind of to protect your hand a bit if I throw the ball to hard for you, but don't worry I won't." I said and I showed him how to catch the ball in the glove and where he should have the glove unless otherwise.

"So, I throw the ball with my other hand not the gloved hand?" he asked and I nodded.

"Yep, you ready?' I asked and he nods. I back up a bit and I toss the ball to him. He misses and goes after the ball and throws it back to me, I have to move up a bit in order to catch it but I do, I then toss the ball back and he misses again. H grabbed the ball and threw it at me and I caught it and I smile at him.

"Why do you make it look so easy?" He asked and I looked at him as I tossed the ball back but this time, he caught it and I clapped for him.

"Takes practice buddy, but trust me, there will be times when I miss the ball." I said as he tossed it back and I caught it. We played for a bit and he was laughing and having fun.

"Did you play this a lot?" he asked.

"All the time with my grandfather…. Before he died, we use to play this a lot, along with my dad, it was the happiest we all had been, was when…... he was alive." I said and tossed the ball back to AJ.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories." He said as he tossed the ball back to me and I caught it and rolled the ball around in my free hand.

"No, it's fine I liked that memory…. It was so nice." I said and looked at him.

"And now I get to make memories with you and two." I said and tossed the ball.

"I like this." He said as he tossed the ball back to me and I caught it and looked at him.

"I do too…. AJ…. Do you want to stay here? Or would you like to go one day?" I asked.

"I want to stay, like it was at the farm but… that doesn't always happen…. And I want the others to be here too but…. They left." He said and I looked at him as I tossed the ball back.

"I know… I know." I said quietly and looked at him.

"But I like it here, I mean I can help with the wall and do what I normally would do, and I'm reading too, plus we're having fun an doing things that make you happy right?" he asked and I nodded.

"Of course." I said.

"So, we can stay here for as long as we can, if we have to leave, we can come back, just like the school, the house in Georgia, the farm." He said and I looked at him a bit.

"…. AJ, I want you to remember all the places we go, that way when older you can visit the places, we have been…. Places that make you happy or…. Where people you know are buried." I said and he looked at me.

"Will you visit your mom and dad?" He asked as I looked to him.

"I will, yes…. If we ever have time to come back here after we had to leave, I'll come back for a bit." I said and he looked at me as I tossed the ball back to him.

"I promise to visit you a lot." He said and I looked at him and nodded.

"Clem's going to need a lot of help now." I said.

"We'll help her."

"Of course."

"You still love her, right?" he asked and I looked at him socked.

"Of course, I do AJ." I said.

"That's good…. I didn't mean to be rude about it." He said quietly and I looked at him.

"I know…. I'll never stop loving her…. Or you for that matter, you two are what's important to me, you and Clem are my family now." I tell him and he nods a bit as I look at him.

"You'll never leave us?" he asked and I came up to him and got to his level and he hugs me and I hug him back.

"Don't leave us ok?" he asked and I nodded.

"I won't I promise buddy." I say.

"But you can't promise that… that's the bad part." He says and I look at him.

"What if you get bit, or… or I can't save you, or anything bad happens like Clem." He cries more and I hug him tighter to not hurt him.

"AJ…. I know you won't like to hear this; God I hate having to say this to you, a kid your age should never have to hear this." I said and he moved away a bit and looked at me.

"AJ… don't try to save me, you take care of Clementine first, no matter what she says you listen to me and don't save me…. Fuck if you have to let the walkers fucking eat me if that gives you and Clem time to get away, now promise me that ok?" I said and he looked at me with wide eyes.

"Violet."

"I know this sounds so fucking bad but please for me…. AJ, I want you and Clementine to be safe, so you take care of her ok? Please just promise me that one thing, that if the time ever comes…. You get Clem and go…. Don't play hero to save me in any way because…. God if anything happened to you or her…. I…. I don't know what I would do without either of you." I tell him and he nods gently.

"O….Ok…..I…." He tried to say but he looked at me.

"AJ." I said and he looked at me.

"Just…. Nod ok, you just have to nod." I said and he does and I nod back and hold him to me.


	30. Brush Away Your Sorrows

(Violet's Pov)

-Seven Years Later-

It's been seven full years since Clementine, AJ, and I had decided to just stay at my home. Seven wonderful years actually, yea we had some fights here and there but nothing major, just what is considered the norm these days really. AJ is a fine young man now, he's fourteen years old now, Clementine is Twenty-Six, and I'm about twenty-eight, to twenty-nine now. AJ was helping me work on the fence which was now made of concreate like how the school was.

"We need to cut your hair." I said as we worked on the wall together. I looked up at him and he looked at me and nods a bit.

"Ok, just not to short." He says and I look at him.

"Not to long either." I said and he nods and I hear the door open and I look at our house and I see Clementine walking out the door. She limps a bit due to her prosthetic but she looks at us and smiles and waves. We both wave back at her and I look at AJ.

"Come on, lets take a break kid." I said and rubbed his head. He was about the same height as Clementine right now but he should grow taller soon.

"I'm not a kid." He says and I roll my eyes.

"I'm closer to my thirties, you are still a kid to me." I said and he sighs as he heads to Clem. I come up the porch with him and I hug Clem a bit and I kiss her neck gently as she hugs me back.

"Sorry for sleeping in." she says.

"It's fine Clem, you couldn't sleep last night anyway." I said and she looks at me.

"Still." She says and I kiss her and I smile at her.

"Eight years." I said and she smiles and nods.

"Happy Anniversary." She says and I kiss her cheek.

"I was thinking of taking a walk around the wall." She says and I look at AJ who was currently drinking some water and I look at her and I nod.

"I'll join you." I said and she nods as she heads off the porch and I look at AJ.

"Hey buddy, me and Clem are gonna walk around the wall a bit." I told him and he nods.

"Ok, keep safe, and if any places need to be patched tell me." He says and I nod as I close the door. I go over to Clem as I take her hand into mine and we begin our walk.

"What do you want to eat?" She asked and I thought.

"AJ and I can go hunting again, bag us a nice sized buck." I said and she looked at me.

"that would be nice…. I'm sorry I haven't been much help all these years." She says and I stop her, I get in front of her and you can hear the gravel shift under my feet. I lift her head up a bit and I make her look at me.

"Don't ever apologize to me Clementine, you still do work around here." I said.

"Like what?" she says and I kiss her hand.

"Keeping the garden Kept up for one thing, then you have watches when AJ and I are asleep, you keep our spirits up when we get tired, you show me and AJ love, I can go on and on about this." I tell her.

"But that's not enough."

"For us it is, hell you fixed that god damn motorcycle in my neighbors shed, and that truck too that we found, you have done more than enough especially when you risked your ass to save us six years ago with that crazy woman, Joan…. You lost a leg Clem…. So, you've done more than enough and you still do more work when you shouldn't…. AJ and I are supposed to take care of you, you need to relax…. Especially now." I said and she looks up at me.

"I can't you know I can't." she says and I hold her to me and I rub the back of her head gently.

"I know… I know, but try? For me and for AJ, come on he turns fifteen in a few months, we can secretly plan his party." I said and she laughed a bit.

"He found out the last time." She says and I smile.

"But this plan will work, I promise, we just plan it in the other trailer." I said and she laughed a bit and we began walking again.

"I love your laughter." I said.

"It's stupid."

"Hey I snort when I laugh." I said.

"And that's adorable." She says and I chuckle as I kiss her cheek gently.

"I love you so much." I tell her.

"I love you to Violet." She says and kisses my cheek too and I smile at her more as I grab her hand gently and we walk back to our home. I open the door for her and she waves her hand a bit and then sits in the rocking chair I had set outside for her and I smile as I close the door. AJ then comes out and I look at him and he smiles at us as he sits in the chair next to Clementine.

"How's the leg?" He asked.

"Doing good, now that I can walk long distances." She tells him and I look at him as he talks to her more.

"We should head up to Savanna to visit Lee." I hear him say.

"Yea… one day, when we have the time we will." She says and I nod as I go back to work on the truck trying to fix it. It took a while but I was able to finally put it back together and test it out, sadly it wouldn't start and I sigh as I get out of the truck and look inside the hood again.

"Hey Clem want to play catch with me and Violet?" AJ asked and I looked at her and him.

"Sure, why not?" she says as she gets up and I go over to them and he grabbed the gloves and I look at her as I put mine on my hand along with AJ.

"Remember we can't throw to hard." I said and clementine rolled her eyes a bit.

"Hey I can run with one leg." She says and I nod.

"I know but still, we need to find you a better leg." I said and she sighs and rolls her eyes and I chuckle.

"Alright, get ready Mom." AJ says and I look at him as he winds up his pitch and throws the ball and I have to run a bit to catch it.

"VICTORY VIOLET!" I hear both him and Clem shout and I laugh as I throw the ball back to him. He then throws the ball to Clem who jumps a bit to catch it and I watch her leg carefully just to be cautious is all.

"And Clementine winds up the ball." I joked as she's about to throw the ball to me and she laughed as she throws the ball and I catch it.

"Oh, to bad." AJ says and I smile as Clem shoves him playfully.

"Hey you aren't small anymore bud." She says and I throw the ball back to her and she catches it. We then hear a loud bang and we stop our little game and I look at them both.

"AJ get clementine inside now." I said and he nods as he grabs Clem and they head inside the house and I go up to the door and I grab my rifle and look at them.

"I'll come." AJ says and I stop him.

"No those aren't walkers, what have I told you." I said and he looks at me sadly and nods as he goes and get the bags ready just in case and I look at Clementine as she grabs her gun and is about to come out but I stop her.

"You stay inside, I'll look up over the wall." I said and she looks at me and nods a bit as she kisses me gently and I look at her and I nod as I head out quietly to the wall and I go over to the gate a bit and look through it a bit. I don't see anyone though the gun shot sounded pretty far off but we can't be to careful these days. I look around a bit and head around the other sections of the wall just to be safe. I look around a bit more and when I see nothing I head back to the trailer and I look at Clementine as she looks at me.

"Do we have to leave?" AJ asked as he grabbed the bags.

"Uh… no I didn't see anyone so we should be good, they're probably in the woods hunting, as long as they don't make another shot this way we should be good." I said and they nod a bit and I look around.

"I'll put the bags in the truck though." I said and AJ looks at me.

"I can help, I'll be careful." AJ says and I look at him then at Clem.

"Alright, just be extra careful." I said and he nods as we grab some of the bags and set them in the back of the truck. The one good thing about this truck is that it has a cover on the back of the truck so we can lock it up and no one can grab our supplies. AJ and I got our bags into the back of the truck and He went back inside to grab another bag. Once we were done, I locked up the truck and we went back inside and I looked at Clementine as I handed her the keys to the truck.

"You and AJ take the truck; I'll take the bike." I said and she nods a bit as she grabbed the keys gently and I grabbed my rifle again and went outside and stayed on watch for a bit I saw Clem come out quietly but I didn't say anything to her as she showed me her gun and the Keys and I nod as I look around more.

"Vi, we should leave." She says in a whisper.

"I…. I don't want us to run anymore." I said and she looked at me as I looked at her.

"I know…. If the gun shots get closer, we have to go though." She says and I nod gently as I look around more.

"I… We have a home… and people are going to take it…. After AJ and I busted our asses to make it safe… after you busted your ass to help keep us alive, we made this home and fuckers who don't want to do the work are going to take it." I said getting pissed off at the fact that people take others homes just so they don't have to fucking work for it.

"Vi." She says and I look down at her.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled and she grabbed my cheeks gently and kissed me and I looked at her more as I held her hand gently.

"Never be sorry." She says to me and I chuckled.

"That's my line."

"Well now it's mine." She tells me and I smile at her.

"Alright, it's yours." I tell her and we hear another gun shot. I look around more and sigh gently and look at her.

"Come on." She says and I look at my home, then her, then back to my home. Seven years we've been here. Seven birthdays for AJ to celebrate, seven years we had of peace and quiet, not many walkers to deal with, no humans till now. Seven years of hard work, and memories, and hardship that we've dealt with all about to be taken away by fucking assholes who don't want to do the work themselves.

"Alright." I mumbled as I Saw AJ come out with his gun and I help Clementine into the truck. I looked at AJ as he got in the drivers' side and I saw him grip the wheel a bit.

"You know what to do AJ." I said and handed them a radio.

"If something feels wrong with the truck you tell me, we will stop and I'll work on it, if we get separated you head to the nearest town and look for any signs that Louis and them may have left for us ok?" I asked and he nods.

"Got it." He says and I nod and look at clementine who looked so damn tired. I don't blame her though; she hasn't really done much activities with her leg and it's my own fault for doing that to her.

"Clem, you'll be fine." I say and she nods.

"I know…. You be safe on that damn bike understand me." She says and I nod.

"Of course." I said and she nods and I look at AJ.

"Keep her safe." I whisper to him and he nods. I then close the door and He starts up the truck as I back up bit as he drives off and I grab my bag and I turn the radio and attach it to my hip and I get on the bike and start it up. Once I'm good I begin to drive and I get right behind them and I watch some movements in the woods as we fly by. A few walkers here and there but not really walking due to their muscles rotting and not being able to keep their legs to their bodies. I want to vomit at the smell cause it's been worse these few months. I hear the radio go off and I grab it.

"Hello?" I asked.

"We have to take a detour the roads getting smaller with the cars in the way." Clementine says and I nod.

"Ok, we can take a right down the dirt path just have to be careful of the walkers in the woods, they jump at ya." I said.

"You should get in the truck than." She says.

"I'm fine, I can go faster than you guys, just be careful not to fun them over AJ the walker will get stuck under there." I said as we turned to the road and I kept a close eye on the treelines as we drive on by. I drive up beside them and Clem rolls down her window and I smile and wave at her a bit and she waves back and I wave to AJ. But he keeps his eyes on the road and I look at her as she mouths focus and I nod to her. We drive for a good while before we have to stop. AJ pulls over and I look at them as they get out the truck and AJ opens the back and hands Clementine a water bottle. She looks at us as we get ours and I take a few sips.

"So, Florida?" AJ asked and I nodded.

"Yea, they probably went close to the waters they should have left signs to show they had been there." I said as we looked around a bit.

"Walkers are getting less and less these days." AJ comments and I nod.

"That's good." I tell him.

"But the world still won't be the same." He says and I nod.

"No, it won't be… people would have to start working together just to even be a tiny bit normal." Clementine says and I watch her.

"Like that'll happen… I mean hell, Louis a guy who I thought would stick around and wait for you, just…. Left and said you might be dead." I said and AJ looked at me.

"But you don't hate him." AJ says.

"No… no I don't but he shouldn't have said that… he's… he shouldn't have said a lot of things." I said as I looked Clem.

"You never did tell me what happened while I was gone." She says and I look to them.

"Nothing important, it's in the past now." I said and she looked at me and I looked around more. I got her back in the truck and handed her the water bottle. She grabs my hand before I leave and she kisses me and I kiss her back and I look at AJ.

"You good bud?" I asked as he looked straight ahead and I look to and I see some walkers coming to us. They were new walkers since they weren't as rotten as the others are, I looked to him.

"It's fine just drive by them can you do that?" I asked and he nods a bit and I close Clementine's door then head to my bike. He drives ahead and passes the walkers and I follow them as we pass by them, I look around a bit and we head off to Florida. We drive for a few more hours before it starts to get dark and we make a stop at one of the abandoned houses and I make sure to barricade the door as the other two settled in. Once settled in Clementine began to work on the fire in the fire place and I got some of the food ready for us to cook.

"You think those people are following us?" AJ asked.

"I don't think so, we left before they really knew we were there… before anything bad could happen." I said as I worked on the deer meat and I got the pan to cook it on ready.

"It's good to be cautious but what if they never knew we were there?" He said and I looked at him.

"We'll be back there soon… we could bring Louis and them too, it's a bit better than the school to be honest but more out in the open." I said and he nods as he cuts the vegetables.

"We can play baseball with them." He says and I chuckle a bit.

"Yea we can play baseball with them." I said and looked at Clem as she looks at the fire and works on it a bit as I finish with the meat.

"Fire ready?" I asked.

"Yep good to go." She says and I nod as I begin to cook the food. AJ grabs the waters for all of us as Clem grabs the bowls and forks and I watch her a bit as she hands AJ his and I kiss her cheek.

"You ok?" She asked me and I nod a bit as I hold her waist gently.

"Love you." I mumble to her and I feel her smile.

"Love you too doofus." She says and I laugh a bit as I go back to the food and finish it up. I handed AJ and Clem theirs along with some roasted vegetables and I sit with them as we eat our food.

"I bet Aasim found a lot of books by now."

"Yea he probably did, I mean he wanted to be a teacher one day." I said and looked to Clementine and she smiles a bit.

"Speaking of teachers, we should go visit Lee." AJ said and I nod.

"Yea we can visit him after we find the others how about that?" I asked and he nods.

"WE can bring him some flowers." Clem says and I nod.

"And some bourbon." I joked and she laughed a bit.

"Yea, and some bourbon." She says and I put my arm around her and hold her to me.

"When can I drink?" AJ asked and I looked at him.

"Never, it's a bad thing to do right now." Clementine tells him and I look at her and I kiss her cheek and I hold her closer to me as we finish our food and drink the water.

"Ok, AJ time for sleep." I said.

"I'm not a baby anymore." He says and I roll my eyes.

"You might not be a baby anymore but you still need to sleep." I said as I got up and grabbed the blankets and I looked at him as he sighed and grabbed the blanket and went to the couch and I watched him as he went to sleep. I looked at Clementine as she finished up her food and I kissed her cheek a bit as I looked at her hand gently and I lifted it to my lips and kissed it.

"I'm sorry that we had to leave." She says and I look at her.

"Don't be, it was my plan from the start." I tell her and she just leans back into me and I hold her waist as I kissed her cheek gently once more and I put my face in her neck. I don't know how long we have been in this position all I know is that when I woke up the fore had burned out and the night was still going though it might be early morning at this point. Clem was still asleep on me and I slowly got up as I too her to the chair and covered her up gently. I opened the door and looked around outside a bit and looked up at our stars. The fish, the knife, the bird, heck the heart too. All here looking down at us. I looked around a bit more to make sure there was no walkers or even people to begin with. I didn't see anyone or anything abnormal or as abnormal as it could get.

I went back into the house and barricaded the door once more and I saw Clem and AJ still sleeping and I put a blanket on her as I went to the bag and grabbed some food to start making breakfast for them. I worked on the meat and looked around a bit as I started on the fire, it was roaring and I began to cook the food for them just as the sun started to rise up. I looked at the two as I finished breakfast and AJ woke up slowly and I smiled as I went over to him and gave him the bowl of food.

"Thanks Mom." He mumbled and I nodded as he ate his food slowly and I looked as Clem woke up and I handed her, her bowl and she looked at me.

"You get any food?" She asked.

"Yea I'm good." I tell her and she looks at me and glares a bit as she tears the meat in half and hands it to me.

"Hm, I'm good." I tell her.

"Eat it." She says.

"Clem I'm fine, I'll have some energy bars on the ride ok?" I asked and she looked at me more as she handed the meat to me and I sigh as I grab it and take a bite. She smiles and eats her half and I roll my eyes at her. AJ looks over to us and fakes a gag and I roll my eyes at him.

"I wouldn't do that AJ; you'll do the same thing to someone you love." She says to him as she points her fork to him and she stabbed a carrot and held it to my face and I took a bite of it then she ate a carrot too.

"I'm to young for that." He says and I laugh.

"To young for love but to old for bed time." I said and I looked at him and he nods.

"I… I didn't mean to sound rude if I did." I said and he nods.

"You weren't it's the truth." He said and I nod a bit. We get our bags set up and I lock up the back as I hand AJ the keys.

"Ready to head out." I said as we got in our vehicles and I started up my bike and I drove off. A few hours pass and we stop to fuel up and I look at AJ. I look at Clem, and then I look to the road. It'll take a few days before we reach Florida, but we can do it.

"Just a few two days till we reach Florida you two." I say and look at them more.

"Alright, lets get going." AJ said and we begin the drive once more.

-One Day Later-

We got to Alabama after a day of non-stop driving, it was easier that way really, so we decided to take a break in one of the open fields and I was laying in the grass with AJ and Clem as we looked up at the sky and we pointed at the clouds and told the shape we thought it was to each other. Just like we use to at the farm. I close my eyes a bit as I remember Tenn, when he would do this with us, how he would point out the clouds and act like a kid before he died.

"What are you thinking about?" I heard and turned my head to face Clementine as she looked at me and I held her hand a bit.

"Just how we use to do this a lot back at the farm." I said and I looked back at the sky and pointed to a cloud.

"Looks like a dog." I said and she smiles.

"Rosie." She says and I smile a bit and I rub my thumb against her hand a bit gently.

"When we get to the others, I'm going to give Rosie the biggest hug ever." AJ said and I thought about it, she was around ten years old when they met her. She would be the age of a teenager by now.

"If she's still around." I said and I looked at Clementine.

"She was pretty old already when you guys met her, she was ten years old." I said and she looked at AJ who looked sadden by the fact that Rosie could be gone.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry." I say.

"It's fine, I didn't know she was that old already." He said and I sighed as I looked at the sky again.

"We should head out." I said and got up a but and I looked around the field a bit as we got our things ready. I looked to Clem as she sat in the drivers seat this time and I held her hand gently.

"Clem… when we get to the school group…. I want to apologize to Louis…. I said some things that I regret and…" I tried to say an was stopped by a kiss.

"Hey it's fine, he'll understand, so don't be scared ok." She says and I nod.

"What if he doesn't forgive me?" I asked.

"Then that's on him." She says and I nod a bit as she starts up the truck. I got on the bike and we began our long drive. It took us about a day and a half to get into Florida due to some detours that needed to be taken, but once we got there we sighed in relief and I radioed them as I saw one of the signs, they had left us.

"Hey guys, follow me I see one of the symbols so we must be close." I tell them and AJ talks to me.

"Roger Dodger." He says and I chuckle as I get ahead of them and they follow me as I look around for more symbols. I see a few heading in the same direction as we keep going until I see an old high school and I see one of the symbols pointing to the school. I head in that direction and I see someone on the roof as I park my bike and Clem parks behind me. She gets out of the truck and I see Ruby, Aasim, Omar, Willy, Louis, A little toddler and hell even Rosie, all come out to see us. I walk up a bit but before I could speak, a loud bang could be heard throughout the parking lot, and I only saw blackness after that.


End file.
